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The Boy With The U. S. Diplomats 


BOOKS BY FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER 


HI. S. Service Series 

Illustrations from Photographs taken for U. S. Government. 



Large 12 mo. 

Cloth. 

Price $1.75 each. 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

S. 

SURVEY 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s 

FORESTERS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

CENSUS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

FISHERIES 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

INDIANS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

EXPLORERS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

LIFE-SAVERS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

MAIL 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

WEATHER MEN 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

NATURALISTS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

TRAPPERS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

INVENTORS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

SECRET SERVICE 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

MINERS 

THE 

BOY 

WITH 

THE 

U. 

s. 

DIPLOMATS 


fiDuseum Series 

Illustrations from Photographs. Large lamo. Cloth. 
Price $1.75 each. 

THE MONSTER-HUNTERS 
THE POLAR HUNTERS 
THE AZTEC-HUNTERS 
THE WRECK-HUNTERS 
THE SAHARA HUNTERS 


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THE WONDER OF WAR ON LAND 

THE WONDER OF WAR AT SEA 

THE WONDER OF WAR IN THE HOLY LAND 

With Illustrations from unusual War Photographs and 
Sketches. Large i2mo. Cloth. Price $1.75 each. 

THE BOYS’ BOOK OF THE WORLD WAR 

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LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 








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Courtesy U. S. Navy Department. 


Commodore Matthew Cadbraith Perry. 

In command of expedition which opened Japan to .American commerce, 

1854. 










U. S. SERVICE SERIES. 


THE BOY WITH 
THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER 

u 


With Thirty-one Illustrations from 
Photographs and Sketches 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 













Copyright, 192S, 

Bt Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 


A ll Rights Reserved 


The Bot With The U. S. Diplomats 



PRINTED IN IT. S. A. 


BERWICK & SMITH CO., 

NORWOOD PRESS, 

* NORWOOD, MASS. 

©ClA7e0804 

NOV - 9 1923 




4 





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FOREWORD 

In view of the disturbed conditions which exist 
in Europe as the aftermath of the World War, 
and in which United States diplomats are now 
earnestly engaged, the Author has deemed it 
wiser to confine this volume to American achieve¬ 
ments in the Orient, and to refrain from comment¬ 
ing on unsettled issues. Diplomacy demands ex¬ 
tremely careful handling, and it is notable that 
those who are the best entitled to speak generally 
keep silence until all is accomplished. This, the 
Author has reason to know, is also the desire of 
the Department of State. 


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PREFACE 


In all ages, and in all countries, diplomacy has 
possessed lure and mystery. It suggests Secret 
Service, strange personal encounters with sultans 
and rulers of peoples, international intrigues, 
and battles of supreme skill wherein the fates of 
nations may hang upon a word. 

Even in modern times, this is still true. One 
needs but to picture that midnight meeting when 
a German Chancellor’s contemptuous jest as to 
^^a scrap of paper” presaged a World War; or 
that scene in the Eussian Duma when fanaticism 
wrecked an empire in an afternoon; or, still more 
recently, the secret flight of a Turkish sultan 
which let loose the hounds of slaughter anew. 
Not a day passes but world-shaking issues lie in 
the hands of diplomats, when peace or war, ter¬ 
ritorial gain or loss, honor or dishonor, may be 
decided by a single phrase. 

American Diplomacy, by reason of the geo¬ 
graphical isolation of the United States from 
Europe, has ever followed a fairly direct path in 


Vll 


viii PREFACE 

the Old World. It has not been able to do so in 
the Orient. There, all the mystery and the won¬ 
der hold true, still; there, plotting and intrigue 
remain; there, the thrill is constant. America’s 
diplomatic problems lie on the marge of the 
Pacific Ocean, and the needs are soul-stirring and 
urgent. 

To show how American interests began there, 
to portray the development of her grasp upon 
Samoa, Hawaii and the Philippines, to touch 
upon her marvellous success in opening China 
and Japan to the modern world, to honor the 
rectitude of her policies, and to beget a reason¬ 
able pride in the great deeds of United States 
diplomats in the Orient is the aim and purpose of 

The Author. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

CHAPTER I 

Facing a Chinese Mob.1 

CHAPTER II 

Entombed Alive.35 

CHAPTER III 

The Opium War.78 

CHAPTER IV 

Chased by Pirates.127 

CHAPTER V 

Desperadoes in Korea.159 

CHAPTER VI 

A Deep-Sea Trap .194 

CHAPTER VII 

The Samoan Hurricane .239 

ix 









X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER VIII 

The Winning of Hawaii . 


278 


CHAPTER IX 

The Boxer Rebellion .. 327 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry . Frontispiece 

FACINa PAGE 

A Canal in Ning-po.24 

A Tartar of the Chinese Army.25 

Amoy, from the Outer Anchorage.62 

Macao, from the Forts of Heang-Shau .... 63 

Wham-poa, from Dane’s Island.96 

A Gate of Pekin.97 

Capture of Chuenpee, near Canton, during the 

Opium War.108 

Opium-Smokers.109 

The Peacock in contact with Iceberg.126 

The Lahloo .127 

Rescued from Pirates off Yang-tse Cape .... 142 

Destroying Chinese War Junks in Anson’s Bay, 
January 7, 1841.143 

Coinmodore Perry meeting the Imperial Commis¬ 
sioners at Yokohama.154 

Nagasaki and the Dutch Settlement, Deshima . . 155 

Final Ceremony on Signing of Treaty, Yedo, 1858 . 158 

Commodore Perry paying his Farewell Visit to the 

Imperial Commissioners at Simoda .... 159 

xi 










XU 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING PAGE 

Korea.192 

Apia, the Little Town strung along the Beach . . 193 

Wharf of German Firm, Apia.238 

Scenes in the Harbor after the Hurricane . . . 239 

Ancient Temple Inclosure in Hawaii.256 

Pineapple Plantation, Island of Oahu .... 257 

Her Majesty Queen Liliuokalani.318 

Fire Hole, Kilauea.319 

Igorot outside his House.326 

The Battle of Manila.327 

Edwin Hurd Conger.338 

Tsu Hsi, the Dowager Empress of China . . . 339 









The Boy With The U. S. Diplomats 






THE BOY WITH THE U. S. 

DIPLOMATS 


CHAPTEK I 

FACING A CHINESE MOB 

‘‘Death to all foreigners! Death 1^^ 

The narrow streets of Ning-po resounded with 
raucous cries. Slant-eyed ruffians brandished 
barbaric weapons and clamored for the blood of 
the opium trader. 

Murder was afoot; the black eyes in those yel¬ 
low faces gleamed with a burning hate, all the 
deeper and more relentless because Confucian 
fanaticism and savage patriotism were added to 
personal enmity. 

Beginning with volcanic fury in Tien-tsin, the 
ever-smouldering Chinese resentment against for¬ 
eign intruders had once again burst into flame. 
Along the thousand-mile shore of the Yellow Sea 
the word had been passed: to leave not one for¬ 
eigner alive in the land, to slay every native who 

had shown any friendship towards the “western 

1 


2 


WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


devils,’^ and to put to the torch everything that 
bore the impress of an alien race. 

Treaties of peace between Orient and Occident 
there were a-plenty: treaties for which genera¬ 
tions of diplomats had striven; treaties wrought 
with infinite patience and caution; treaties, more¬ 
over, sealed by many martyrdoms for the sake of 
God and Country. 

But of what worth were treaties, now? What 
recked these hate-ridden swarms even for im¬ 
perial decrees, since such had been forced from 
their Emperor at the cannon^s mouth? 

The people wanted liberty—liberty to live their 
lives in the good old Chinese fashion and to be 
freed from the supposed improvements which the 
despised foreigner had brought to their country, 
and which, they saw clearly, were designed only 
to profit the aliens. 

George Dorrocks, who, for many years, had 
sustained a precarious existence in that treaty 
port, looked heavily down upon the murderous 
mob from the closely latticed window of his house. 
For once in his life he was afraid, though his fear 
was not for himself but for his young son, Dun¬ 
can, who stood beside him. 

All houses in Ning-po were of frail construe- 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 


3 


tion, for the city had been partly destroyed by 
earthquake several times, and the authorities had 
decreed that no structure within the walls should 
be more than two stories high. This did not 
necessarily imply that the houses were small, for, 
as in many Chinese dwellings, a good half of the 
living-rooms were in basements underground. 

It did mean, however, that they were low. Ac¬ 
cordingly, the window of the second story where 
the white man and his son were standing was but 
four feet or so above the heads of the envenomed 
crowd. The pikes and crescent-bladed spears of 
the enraged Chinamen menaced the foreigners at 
the very level of the window-sill. 

Amid the upturned faces of the savage horde 
below, there were many that the threatened white 
man recognized. Indeed, several of the ring¬ 
leaders were his customers and his accomplices, 
for Dorrocks was not only a trader, he was also 
a smuggler of opium. 

This illicit trade was both his principal danger 
and his safeguard. It was his danger, because 
the Chinese authorities were under rigorous or¬ 
ders to put a stop to the traffic in this abominable 
drug; it was his safeguard, because most of the 
officials of Ning-po had accepted bribes from him 


4 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS ^ 

during his long stay in the Flowery Kingdom. 

Dorrocks had been through anti-foreign riots, 
before. He had faced death a score of times, and 
he reckoned danger as an unavoidable part of 
his forbidden trade. He had witnessed the Tai- 
ping Kebellion which had swept over China twenty 
years earlier—the bloodiest and most incalcul¬ 
ably ferocious Reign of Terror which the world 
had ever seen, and which had cost over nineteen 
million lives. In the thirteen-years’ duration of 
that sanguinary horror he had seen Chinese fury 
at its worst, and his perils and hairbreadth es¬ 
capes during that time would have filled a volume. 

He had been caught in the very camp of the 
rebels and had been taken in person before the 
leader. This extraordinary man—who called 
himself the Second Confucius and the Younger 
Brother of Jesus Christ—was a fanatic dreamer, 
a young student who had heard and misinter¬ 
preted the teachings of an American Baptist mis¬ 
sionary, and whose distorted Oriental mind had 
twisted the Gospel message into a creed of blood. 

By him Dorrocks had been judged, convicted, 
and condemned to die by torture, yet the trader 
had evaded that dread doom at the very last mo¬ 
ment by his consummate knowledge of Chinese 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 5 

secret politics, and by the use of heavy bribes. 
He had even seen the inside of a Chinese prison, 
and he bore ugly scars as a remembrance of that 
time; his manner of escape thence, however, was 
a story that the opium-dealer never told. 

In earlier times still, he had taken part in the 
unrighteous Opium War by which England—for 
her own profit—forced upon a reluctant nation 
the most nefarious intoxicant known to mankind. 
He had been spy and go-between in that danger¬ 
ous time and had lived for years with a price 
upon his head. He had played fast-and-loose 
with both sides, and had engineered the treacher¬ 
ous betrayal of the Taku forts to the foreign 
enemy. 

Such a man was not easily to be shaken by the 
shouts of a clamorous mob. Had he been alone 
at that latticed window, he would have laughed at 
the danger. As an opium-smuggler who had 
lived for many years in hourly peril, he would 
have considered his wits but small if he had not 
prepared a means of escape, pre-arranged long 

before. 

But Dorrocks was not alone. His son, Dun¬ 
can, was beside him, and it was the dearest wish 
of the trader's heart that the lad should be 


6 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


brought up without any knowledge of his father 
illicit doings. He had always intended to have 
Duncan live in the United Sates, and be educated 
there, but, each time that the opportunity arrived 
to send the lad, he let it slip by. He realized, 
only too well, the terrible loneliness that would 
follow the boy’s departure, and he had yielded to 
his own selfish desire to keep his son beside him. 

Now, he was caught. There was no one who 
could help him. In the whole city of Ning-po 
there lived but a score of foreign residents, all 
told. With but two exceptions, all these were 
merchants residing in the “factories,” as the 
large trading establishments outside the city 
walls were called. The only two foreigners who 
actually lived within the walls were Father Mar- 
sotte, the head of the tiny Mission Hospital, and 
himself. 

Except for his Cantonese wife and his little 
son, Dorrocks lived an isolated and embittered 
life. As an opium-smuggler, he was contemptu¬ 
ously treated by the merchants of the “facto¬ 
ries,” who had a legal standing in the country; he 
was regarded as a traitor and an enemy by the 
missionaries, who declared that his evil ways 
brought discredit upon his race and hindered the 




FACING A CHINESE MOB 


7 

spread of Christianity; he was despised by the 
Chinese, even by those who dealt with him for the 
drug. 

The trader was well aware that he could not 
count upon any outside aid. A day or two be¬ 
fore, when rumors of the Tien-tsin revolt had be¬ 
gun to seep into Ning-po, he had suggested mu¬ 
tual assistance to one of the leading merchants 
and had been met with a rebuff. He had no illu¬ 
sions, on that score; the men of the ‘factories’’ 
would be glad to see him dead. As for the chance 
of any help from Father Marsotte, Dorrocks un¬ 
derstood Chinese character well enough to be sure 
that the priest would be even more bitterly hated 
than himself, and in even greater danger. 

To escape from the house into the city was 
easy. Dorrocks was far-seeing enough to have 
anticipated such a contingency, since a raid by 
police officials on the hunt for smuggled opium 
might happen at any moment. He realized, how¬ 
ever, that the menace which confronted him now 
was of very different quality from that of a mere 
raid. 

The blood-hungry crowd below, which clamored 
for his death, was not to be compared mth a mere 
handful of grotesquely-costumed police. It was 


8 


WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


not even comparable to a mob of rioters which 
had been stirred to a sudden fury only to die 
down as quickly as it had been aroused. This 
angry swarm was a thousandfold more fraught 
with peril. This was an organized anti-foreign 
revolt permitted—and probably, incited—^by the 
mandarins, and in which the bloodiest excesses 
would be allowed. 

It would be useless for him merely to escape 
from his house into the city, since no place within 
the walls of the city would be safe, and the walls 
would be rigidly guarded. Even should he suc¬ 
ceed in getting beyond the gates, his case would 
be but little farther advanced. The foreign mer¬ 
chants would not help him to a ship. Moreover, 
if he tried to hire a sampan, every Chinese boat¬ 
man would betray him. Even those men whom 
he employed in his smuggling work probably 
would be infected with the spirit of murder and 
could not be trusted. 

The sole Avay of escape, then, such as it was, 
must be reserved for Duncan, and the flight must 
be managed in such a way that no one could sus¬ 
pect where the lad had gone. As for Dorrocks 
himself, he must face the human hounds below, 
and take his chance. 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 


9 


With one more glance through the window at 
the pikes and spears, which cast ominous shadows 
on the lattice-work, the trader called his Chinese 
wife. She was both his wife and his slave, for 
he had bought her from the horrors of widow¬ 
hood with a couple of cases of opium some years 
before. He knew her gratitude and her wifely 
obedience under ordinary conditions, but now her 
loyalty was to be put to a supreme test. 

‘^Chin-sa,’^ he said, ‘^you hear what those low- 
caste dogs are barking in the street?’’ 

‘Hf my lord wills that I should hear, then I 
have heard.” 

^^Be it so. Open your ears to my words, and 
your will to my commands! ’ ’ 

The woman bowed, in token of agreement, her 
hands crossed on her breast. 

‘‘Answer! How long have you known of this 
projected attack upon all foreigners?” 

Deftly, she avoided the question. 

“The talk of women at a street fountain is not 
a matter for my lord’s hearing,” 

Dorrocks looked at her with suspicious resent¬ 
ment. Although no white man was better 
equipped than he to understand the China of that 
time, the trader was the first to admit that Chi- 


lo WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

nese character remained an enigma to him. His 
wife was fond of him, that he knew, she was 
under the greatest obligation possible, yet she 
had never given him the slightest warning that 
his life was in danger. 

^‘That which is spilt cannot be put back, words 
unsaid cannot be heard. Now, the time left for 
action is short. It may be difficult to escape, 
Chin-sa 

‘‘My lord has not forgotten the secret pas¬ 
sage ! ’ ’ 

“I forget nothing!^’ retorted the trader per¬ 
emptorily, for he regarded any suggestion from 
an Oriental as an impertinence, even from his 
wife. “But, in order that the underground way 
may remain a secret, it must be closed from this 
side, for greater security. It is not my present 
intention to use it for myself, but for Duncan and 
you. After you have fled, I wall close the hidden 
door so that no man shall find it. Go, secure all 
your jewels and whatever money there is in the 
house, and return here with the Feet of Speed. 

“But, my lord— 

“It is an order 

Again the woman bowed, submissively, but, 
none the less, regretfully. As Dorrocks sur- 


FACING A CHINESE MOB ii 


mised, Chin-sa would have preferred to stay with 
him to the very end, and to share his death, if that 
should come. From her point of view, it would 
be the most natural thing to do. But she had 
been brought up in old China, where there is no 
argument or appeal from a husband’s command. 
Her obeisance made, she hurried to the inner 
room to gather up her jewels, as she had been 
bidden. 

Few minutes had passed before she was back 
again. Borrocks noted with a grim smile that 
she was wearing white earrings, one of the signs 
of widowhood. Evidently the woman agreed 
with him in his interpretation of the murderous 
mood of the crowd. 

^^Come here, Chin-sa,” he commanded, and 
placed Duncan’s hand in hers. ‘‘Let there be 
no delay,” he continued. “So long as these 
blood-seeking human hounds see me at the win¬ 
dow, they Avill not force the door. It does not 
need much to make them quail. The Flower of 
Courage does not blossom in a low-caste garden. 
Besides, the leaders believe that they have me 
trapped. 

“As soon as you have reached the farther end 
of the secret passage, wall it up with stones, as I 



\ 


12 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

have shown you, that none may find the entrance. 
Hurry with Duncan through the garden to the 
house of Ying Hsiu. Ask for his servant Li Hin. 
Give him this message, and make' him repeat it 
twice that every word may be painted on his 
brain with the Brush of Memory: 

‘Say to the Most Excellent Ying Hsiu: The 
Papers of Truth are in the Hands of Strength and 
Secrecy. While the boy Duncan lives, and is 
happy, the seals upon the papers will not be 
broken; but, should the boy be unhappy, his tears 
will dissolve the wax and the Hands of Strength 
will give the Papers of Truth to the Eyes of Se¬ 
verity. When the boy is a man, the Papers of 
Truth will be given to the Most Excellent Ying 
Hsiu, or his heirs, that they may be burned. Thus 
his name may be saved from dishonor, and 
his ancestors may rest quietly in their tombs.’ 

“Now, repeat the message!” 

The woman did so. 

“These words,” the trader warned, “are only 
for the ears of Li Hin and Ying Hsiu. To them 
they are fragrant with meaning; to the ears of 
others they will sound as a gong to bring shame 
upon the messenger. You will find that the feet 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 


13 

of Ying Hsiu will be quick to lead Duncan to a 
place of safety.’^ 

Chin-sa bowed again, and, in a toneless voice 
which hid any emotion that she may have felt, she 
asked: 

‘ ‘ Will my lord escape ? ’ ^ 

^Hf the Eye of the Sky wills, but it is given to 
men to doubt. Should the Ears of Wifehood hear 
no word from me by the waning of the next moon, 
it may be deemed sure that I shall have taken the 
dark journey to the Hall of my Severed Ances¬ 
tors.’^ 

He turned to his son. 

^^Go with the honorable Chin-sa, Duncan,” he 
bade. ”You will walk to another house, a bigger 
one than this, where you are to stay for a little 
while. You must be obedient, there. It is an 
order!” 

The lad, who was hardly old enough to speak 
plainlj^, replied in formal Chinese phrase: 

humble farewell to Honorable Father!” 

And then he put up his face to be kissed, in 
true ^Horeigm devil” fashion. 

‘‘Dood-bye, Dad,” he replied in English, ‘H’ll 
be dood!” 


14 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

The trader stooped, gave his son a vigorous 
hug, and released him to his mother. 

A second later, a grating sound behind him an¬ 
nounced to Dorrocks that the cement-lined door 
had been swung open. 

‘‘My lord has nothing more to say to his humble 
Chin-sa ? ^ ’ 

The trader did not turn his head, fearing that 
the crowd below might observe the movement and 
suspect that he was making some arrangement to 
escape. 

“There is this to say,’^ he replied. “Chin-sa 
has been a good wife, worthy of a rose-granite 
tomb and the two stone lanterns. In the Papers 
of Truth I have left an order, which, if my com¬ 
mands to Ying Hsiu are carried out, will be ful¬ 
filled, whenever and wherever the eyes of Chin-sa 
shall cease to open to the sun. Farewell 

‘ ‘ May my lord live! ^ ’ 

The secret door, which revolved on a horizontal 
axis, swung back again into place. Dorrocks was 
left alone, to consider his own fate, and the 
chances for his son. 

“IPs blackmail, of course,he muttered, as the 
way of escape closed, “but anything’s fair for 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 15 

the youngster’s sake. And I saved Ying Hsiu’s 
neck from the axe, one time, after all!” 

It was time that the woman and the boy got 
clear, for the crowd had fallen silent, an ominous 
sign. Some of the leaders of the rioters were 
clustered around an official whom Dorrocks recog¬ 
nized as one of his largest customers in opium. 

Fearing that this conference might presage a 
concerted attack, and that the crowd, emboldened 
by his passivity, might rush the door, the trader 
threw open the heavily-latticed shutter. 

Immediately, the cries redoubled in fury. 

^‘Barbarian! Barbarian!” 

^ ‘ Cut the foreign devil in pieces! ’ ’ 

^‘Put his head on a spike!” 

Dorrocks looked calmly down upon them, but 
said not a word, knowing that, to the Chinese 
mind, nothing so clearly suggests superiority as 
indifference and silence. Here and there his 
glance rested on former clients, many of whom 
owed him money for opium, and these quailed be¬ 
fore his look and hid themselves in the crowd. 

This sense of easy subjection was his first im¬ 
pression but it lasted only an instant. The wave 
of hate which rolled upwards struck him almost 


i6 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


like a blow. He felt hostility hot like a simoom. 
The air was musky with the exhalations of en¬ 
raged humanity, and the narrow street reeked 
like a snake ^s den. 

Although the crowd was so densely packed that 
movement forward or back was difficult, sudden 
accesses of fury shook it as though with the tre¬ 
mors of an earthquake. The , pikes and spears 
danced with a yellow glitter in the dusty sun¬ 
light. Brawny arms with clenched fists shot 
up like the suckers of some hundred-tentacled 
cuttlefish. 

Then a new danger came. 

One man—whose clothing showed him to be a 
charcoal-burner by trade—came elbowing and 
pushing his way through the mob, bearing a resin¬ 
ous torch which glowed and sent up a thick brown 
smoke. And, as he neared the trader’s house, 
he shouted: 

‘‘Call on your foreign devil-gods to blow this 
out, if they can!” 

The charcoal-burner was about to touch his 
flaming brand to the dry wood of the house, when 
his mad career was suddenly halted. 

One of the minor leaders, who was shaking ill 
the air a spike-headed axe, brought this down 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 


17 

with all his force upon the torch-bearer’s head. 
The man fell in his tracks, while the burning 
brand fizzed out harmlessly. 

‘‘Fool!” said the axe-wielder to the mortally 
wounded man, who was writhing on the ground. 
“Would you burn the whole quarter for the sake 
of a barbarian?” f 

This caused a revulsion in the feeling of the 
crowd and the trader seized the opportunity. He 
spoke commandingly: 

“Fools all! In threatening me, you imperil 
yourselves! If you spill white blood, you will 
destroy not one quarter only, but your whole city. 
What shall save you when the Ocean of Swords 
surges over you? Eun to your homes and pray, 
each one, that his face has not been recognized in 
this mad folly!” 

For the fraction of a second, the crowd wa¬ 
vered. But the leaders, some of whom had al¬ 
ready tasted the blood-glut in Tien-tsin, yelled 
defiance. Instantly, the air was rent with execra¬ 
tions and curses, those who had been the readiest 
to flee shouting the loudest that no one might 
doubt their courage. 

One man, unable to restrain himself, hurled his 
pike at the trader, but so dense was the crowd 


i8 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


that free action of the throwing arm was impos¬ 
sible, and the aim was false. 

Dorrocks caught the pike as it shot harmlessly 
past, but, instead of returning the blow, he handed 
the weapon back to his pack of enemies with the 
curt comment: 

‘‘Let jackals keep their own teeth 

The action was not mthout its effect. As the 
trader had rightly anticipated, this contemptuous 
reply caused hesitation and delay, whereas, if he 
had thrust with the pike, the fight would have 
been on in an instant and the door would have 
been battered down immediately. Delay was 
what he sought, in order that Duncan and his 
mother might have time to escape. 

Now that he had broken silence, however. Dor- 
rocks must maintain his authority. 

Fixing with his glance the official who, a mo¬ 
ment before, had been in consultation with the 
ringleaders of the mob, the trader questioned, 
scornfully: 

“Since when has it come to pass that Men 
of Learning allow the Ignorant to speak for 
them! 

The taunt may have stung, but the impassive 
Chinese countenance showed no sign. Not even 



FACING A CHINESE MOB 19 

removing- his hands from the sleeves of his long 
jacket, the mandarin responded: 

‘^Foreign smells are disagreeable to the nos¬ 
trils of those who possess learning. How vile, 
then, must be those smells, when even the nostrils 
of the Ignorant are offended’/^ 

Dorrocks considered the advisability of mak¬ 
ing an angry retort. The official speaking was an 
educated man, a local representative of the Court 
of Kites, who had been elevated to the rank of 
Mandarin of the Fifth Order. Withal, he was 
an inveterate though a secret opium-smoker. 

Undoubtedly, in times of quietude, a bribe of a 
few cases of opium would have won favor, and 
the officiaFs influence would have been strong 
enough to enable the trader to escape. But, as 
Dorrocks realized, the mandarin would not dare 
to help a foreigner before the very eyes of an 
angry crowd. To do so might bring about his 
own death, and would certainly be used by his 
personal enemies as a means to his disgrace. 

Defiance was the uppermost thought in the 
white man’s mind, but defiance might be danger¬ 
ous. It might bring the riotous impulse to a 
head. Parley would give time, and time was 
what he needed. After Chin-sa and Duncan had 


20 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

reached the house of Ying Hsiu he might afford 
to be reckless, but not before. 

Ignoring the insolence of the mandarin’s reply, 
Dorrocks queried: 

‘‘Are all the foreigners leaving the city of 
Ning-po, then?” 

‘■‘Their dishonored corpses are leaving the 
city,” the mandarin answered calmly, “and the 
dogs are feasting beyond the walls.” 

The words were echoed by a shout of exultation 
from the crowd. 

To any other man, the situation would have 
seemed hopeless, and even Dorrocks, fertile of 
resources as he was, racked his brain in the en¬ 
deavor to find out some loophole of escape. He 
dared not use the secret chamber, for, should he 
vanish, the foiled man-hunters would search until 
they found the passage. This would compromise 
Ying Hsiu and lead to the finding of Duncan. 

Then the opium trader’s eye feU on the corpse 
of the charcoal-burner and on the burned-out 
torch lying beside him and a totally new idea 
flashed into his mind. 

Suppose he should set fire to the house, him¬ 
self? There was a high mnd blowing and the 
flames would spread to the wooden houses on 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 21 

either side with bewildering rapidity. They 
would leap, unchecked, across the narrow street 
and set fire to the crazy wooden balconies, upon 
the other side. As the axe-wielder had sug¬ 
gested, that whole quarter of the city might be 
swept clear by the conflagration. 

Surely, in the confusion that must result, the 
trader thought, he might have a chance to make 
good his escape! The mob, itself, would be en¬ 
dangered, and must disperse, and the primitively 
organized fire-fighters of Ning-po would only 
make the confusion worse confounded. His own 
house would be destroyed, of course, but that 
meant little extra loss, for it would be looted, in 
any case. 

Even if he should not escape, Dorrocks decided, 
he would have his revenge. The rioters might 
get one white man^s life, but at least they would 
have to pay the price, and a heavy price, too! 

Such a plot, however, must be done secretly, 
and it would require a few minutes’ preparation. 
How could he secure the necessary time? If he 
left the window, the mob, fearing to lose its prey, 
might rush the place at once, and he would be 
taken or killed before his plans were complete. 
He must promise to come down into the street, 


22 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

and, by means of this promise, delude the leaders. 

Just as he was about to renew his parley with 
the mandarin, triumphant shouts were heard 
from another direction, and Dorrocks turned his 
head to see what this might signify. Tightly 
packed though the crowd was, it began to part, 
and through the throng pushed another group of 
men, bearing in their midst Father Marsotte, the 
hospital mission priest. 

‘^Look down, Chau-che (George),^’ cried one of 
them, ‘‘look down and rejoice! You are no 
friend of the Croaking Eavens, and you will be 
glad to see the black coat dyed red! ^ ^ 

It was true that the trader was no friend to 
the missionaries, especially to those of the Roman 
Catholic church. The English clergymen in 
China, indeed, winked at the smuggling of opium, 
for therein lay England’s principal commerce 
with the Celestial Empire. But the Catholic mis¬ 
sionaries, who were mostly French, and the Prot¬ 
estant missionaries, who were Dutch and Ameri¬ 
can, worked hand in hand with the Chinese au¬ 
thorities to put down the nefarious opium trade, 
and they had all but caught Dorrocks a score of 
times. 

None the less, while the trader admitted that 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 23 

these men were his enemies, he respected them as 
open foes. He was ready to admit that a mis¬ 
sionary ought to be an opium-hater, and his en¬ 
mity was by no means personal. He thoroughly 
admired Father Marsotte and his work. Indeed, 
he had given money to aid the priest in erecting 
the tiny hospital of six beds, though he had been 
careful that the gift should be anonymous. 

When, therefore, he saw the priest staggering 
forward under the pushes and blows of his rough 
captors, the trader’s American blood rose in pro¬ 
test. Friend or foe, it was a white man’s duty to 
help a minister of religion whenever and where- 
ever possible. 

Knowing Chinese psychology, he shouted, sud¬ 
denly, over the heads of the crowd: 

‘ ^ Father! Put your curse on them! ’ ’ 

He had spoken in Chinese, and a shiver of fear 
ran through the mob. Most lower-class China¬ 
men believed the ‘‘foreign devils” to be really in 
league with the Evil One and held them to be 
sorcerers of black degree. 

But the priest replied, in the same tongue: 

“Shall I go to my death with a curse upon my 
lips!” 

The nobility of the phrase halted some of the 


u 

24 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

better spirits in the crowd, but others pressed in, 
and the shouts of denunciation rose anew. 

Cried Dorrocks, this time in French: 

Curse them with a blessing. Father 

A gleam of understanding came into the 
priest ^s eyes, and raising his bound hands, he in¬ 
toned a Latin blessing. 

The crowd shrank back affrighted, not know¬ 
ing what spell the words might contain, and one 
of the priesFs captors, who held a tae-pan^s chi-po 
—a light spiked ball swung by a cord to a short 
stick, much used in Chinese prisons—checked his 
arm just as it was descending for a blow. 

Dorrocks mocked them. 

‘‘What!’^ he cried. ‘‘You are afraid! Were 
I there, no curse should hold my hand from beat¬ 
ing one of the Croaking Eavens!^^ 

A babble of cries arose. To most of the men in 
the crowd, the trader’s words were incomprehen¬ 
sible. In one phrase he seemed to befriend the 
priest, in the next, he attacked him. 

The mandarin spoke: 

“Come down, then! Let it be seen by all men 
whether your arm be strong enough to smite, in 
spite of the devil-curse.” 

Trader and mandarin looked at each other. 



A Canal in Ning-po. 

From “A Cycle of Cathay f by N. A. P. Martin. Fleming H. Revell & Co. 





















A Tartar of the Chinese Army 









FACING A CHINESE MOB 25 

Each was playing a double game, and each sus¬ 
pected that his foe was aware of it. But Dor- 
rocks could not guess whether the Chinese official 
had some secret plan to curry foreign favor, and 
the mandarin could not fathom the purpose of the 
contradictory statements of the trader. 

fear neither gods nor men,’^ came the white 
man’s haughty reply. ‘^Hold fast the Croaking 
Baven. I will come down.” 

The mandarin smiled inwardly. As he be¬ 
lieved, he had succeeded in his ruse. By pitting 
one foreign devil against another, he would get 
both. 

The crowd understood, and exulted. While in 
no sense cowards, the rioters were well aware that 
if they stormed Dorrocks’ house, they would not 
force an entrance save at the cost of several lives. 
Experience had taught them that every white man 
carried a pistol and knew how to use it. Now, as 
it seemed, they had decoyed the trader to leave his 
stronghold without any danger to themselves. 

Dorrocks, too, had a plan. White man’s 
stratagem was to be pitted against yellow man’s 
wile. 

The instant that he left the window and thus 
was out of sight of the crowd, he dashed to the 


26 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


lower story at topmost speed. It was a long risk 
that he was about to take, but the urgency was 
great. Either he would save Father Marsotte, 
or they would die together. And he was deter¬ 
mined not to be foiled of his revenge. 

Since he had told Chin-sa to take all the ready 
money there was in the house, it was useless to go 
to the treasure chest. Instead, he stuffed sev¬ 
eral packages of opium in his pockets, for these 
were as good as currency, should he be able to 
make his escape. 

Then, with all speed, he went to the lamp cup¬ 
board, upset a kerosene can on the paper-covered 
wooden shelves, struck flint to steel and set the 
paper aflame. He put the cupboard door ajar, 
so that there should be draught enough to feed 
the flame, but not enough to set the fire roaring 
at full blast. This done, he hurried to the street 
door, shot the bolts, and sauntered out calmly and 
slowly, as though he had merely been coming 
down from the first story in a leisurely manner. 

A yell greeted his appearance, but any imme¬ 
diate violence was checked by the leaders, who 
wished to involve the two ‘‘foreign devils” in a 
quarrel. They could kill them both, afterwards, 
in whatever manner they saw fit. 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 27 

Dorrocks pushed his way forward and pointed 
to the priest with a derisive gesture. 

Curse me, if you dare!^^ he cried to him in 
Chinese. ^ ^ Curses are like stones, he who throws 
a heavy stone into the air directly above his head 
may be crushed by its fall!^’ 

Then, speaking in French—^which none of the 
Chinese could understand—but still using the 
same derisive gesture and speaking in the same 
tone of insolence, he went on: 

There is a secret passage in my housey Padre, 
When I give you the wordy run!^^ 

The mandarin, a little puzzled by the scene, 
questioned the trader: 

^‘You do not worship the same God, then!^’ 
No!” 

‘‘Then you do not fear his curses 

“Fear him!” ejaculated Dorrocks. “I will 
show you how much I fear him! Give me the 
chi-po! ’ ^ 

At this extraordinary demand Father Marsotte 
looked up with a query in his glance. He could 
not understand the opium trader ^s intentions in 
the smallest degree, but the phrase in French, 
suggesting the possibility of escape, had raised 
his hopes. 


28 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


‘^Take the chi-po!’’ came the order. 

The short stick with the spiked ball was handed 
to Dorrocks and the priest’^s captors released 
their hold. 

‘‘Stand over there, Black Honnd!^^ cried the 
trader, mockingly, motioning to the door, “and 
you, stand back that I may swing my arm for a 
good stroke!’’ He added, in French: It’ll have 
to he a real Mow; if I sham, they’ll suspect!” 

“Strike!” said the priest. 

The trader swung the spiked ball and brought 
it down with all his force between Father Mar- 
sotte’s shoulders. The missionary, though a 
inan of heroic mold, could not withhold a groan 
of pain. 

The Chinese yelled approval and delight. Here 
was something new! One foreign devil beating 
another foreign devil with the chi-po! 

Dorrocks stepped a pace closer, as though to 
look at the marks of his blow, and cast a glance 
at the window. Through the chinks of the shut¬ 
ter, he could see that the fire was spreading. In 
two minutes’ time, it would take so fierce a hold 
that nothing could put it out. Just the delay 
needed for a second blow would be time enough. 

He spoke again in a mixture of Chinese and 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 29 

French, the insults in Chinese, the advice in 
French: 

‘‘Black fattener upon carrion I —The door is 
not locked, only shut. —Dreamer of religious sor¬ 
ceries! —Push the door open and turn to the left 
up the stairs .—Practiser of magic on sick men^s 
bodies I —Directly in f ront is a room looking on 
the street; the door is open .—Betrayer of the Son 
of Heaven, the Emperor! —To the right of the 
fireplace is a secret door. —Violator of the tombs 
of ancestors! —Push on the wall at the height of 
your chin, and it will swing open. —Ghoul of hon¬ 
orable graves! —DonH wait for me!^^ 

A bright glare shone through the chinks of the 
shutter. 

Some one in the crowd raised a cry of warning. 

Now! 

Dorrocks lifted the spiked ball again to strike, 
swung back as though to give a terrible blow, and 
then cried sharply: 

Forward, Padre! Quick! 

Father Marsotte took him at his word and 
darted in the door and up the stairs, Dorrocks 
after him. 

Agile as the trader was, though, he was not 
quick enough. 


30 


WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


The man who had seen the glare of the fire had 
suspected a trick and he threw himself upon the 
opium smuggler at the very second that the latter 
had shouted to the priest to escape. Two lithe 
arm pinned Dor rocks from the back. 

Shortening his hold and striking savagely over 
his shoulder, Dorrocks brought the spiked ball 
full in his captor’s face. The man reeled back, 
one eyeball punctured, his face smashed and 
bleeding. 

The trader leapt forward, but the crowd was 
on him. Two of his foes reached the door at the 
same moment and the three jammed fast. A 
backward jerk of the white man’s elbow sent one 
spinning, the other got the handle of the chi-po 
full in the throat. 

Dorrocks was through, but to close the door was 
impossible. Having with fury, the yellow mass 
pushed after him. 

A jagged-bladed spear, thrust over the heads of 
the struggling crowd, caught the trader high in 
the chest, drawing blood freely, but, at that very 
instant, he drew one of his pistols and each barrel 
counted for a man. 

In the fraction of a second’s advantage that 
this double slaying gave, Dorrocks reached the 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 31 

stairs, about which the flames were beginning to 
writhe. 

It was a fearsome sight. Through the open 
door poured a glare of sunlight, dimming the 
flames but lighting up the eddying smoke. Two 
men were dead, one blinded and bleeding. The 
foremost of the crowd, pushed by the weight of 
numbers into the fire, began to feel their flesh 
a-crisp. Shrieks of pain mingled with shouts of 
rage. 

cried one of the leaders. ^^Put out the 
fire, or all the quarter will burn! ’ ’ 

A new thrust from the outside drove another 
half-dozen rioters into the holocaust, from which 
there was no escape save by the staircase, where 
Dorrocks stood, his two pistols ready. 

The moment had come, now, to give the crowd 
some reason for this stratagem, some reason 
which they could understand and which would 
stop all further pursuit. 

^^Pools he yelled, his voice rising clear above 
the tumult. Fools! You had not thought that 
brave men would rather die by fire than go to the 
Garden of Torture. It is no disgrace to die by 
one ^s own hand! ’ ^ 

So thoroughly Chinese a sentiment as this could 


32 


WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


not fail to be understood. Those who were near 
the door yelled with balked rage and disappoint¬ 
ment, but those within, those nearest to the 
trader, no longer hungered for murder. They 
had themselves to think of. They were being 
burned alive! In all the frantic madness of 
panic, they tried to fight their way back out of 
the door. 

Terrible was their doom! Those who were out¬ 
side, supposing this push from within, to be a 
cowardly flight from two foreign devils, one of 
them unarmed, pushed the trapped rioters in 
again. The flames caught their cotton garments, 
and living men flared like torches. 

The floor began to sag, sagged deeper, and 
broke through, close by the door. 

The draught from the basement below fanned 
the flames to greater fury. 

The balustrade of the staircase was gone, and 
the beams were going. Not until the steps ac¬ 
tually began to crack under his feet did Dorrocks 
turn to run. 

Here, to the survivors in that little hall of hor¬ 
ror, seemed a way of escape, and the half-roasted 
men burst up the staircase after the trader. 

But the white man had vrell judged his time. 


FACING A CHINESE MOB 33 

He had held the stairs to the very last second of 
safety. 

No sooner did his pursuers reach the middle of 
the stair when it collapsed under their combined 
weight, precipitating them into the flames below. 
The last avenue of escape was closed, and only 
those who were actually at the threshold of the 
doorway were able to push themselves back out 
of that roaring furnace. 

As yet the fire had not reached the interior of 
the rooms of the second story, though the outer 
walls were burning and smoke was pouring up 
through the chinks in the floor. 

Dorrocks ran to the open window and folded 
his arms contemptuously. 

“A warm death, a merry deathhe cried to 
the crowd below. ‘^You thought that you would 
do what you pleased with us, but two white men 
have cheated you all! ’ ’ 

The sagging of the floor warned him that a 
beam had been burned through and that there was 
no time to lose. 

In order to carry out the full impression of 
the imposture that he had worked on them, sud¬ 
denly Dorrocks burst into piercing screams, ran 
wildly up and down past the window a few times 


34 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

and then fell. The appearance was realistic 
enough to deceive every onlooker. 

Then, quickly hut cautiously, he crept over the 
burning floor, and, as he crept, he felt his head be¬ 
gin to swim. The heat, the smoke and the loss of 
blood were telling on him and unconsciousness 
was not far away. But he summoned up the last 
remnant of his will-force and reached the secret 
passage. With one mighty heave, for the wound 
near his shoulder was throbbing painfully, he 
swung the cement-lined door shut, and fell 
heavilv at Father Marsotte’s feet. 


CHAPTER II 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 

Some time elapsed before Dorrocks returned to 
consciousness, to find himself stretched out upon 
damp ground in a place of impenetrable dark¬ 
ness, his head rested on a priest’s cassock for a 
pillow and his shoulder roughly bandaged. He 
was parched with thirst, and feverish, but his 
brain was clear. 

After a moment or two of wonderment, he real¬ 
ized where he was, and stirred. 

Out of the darkness came the voice of the 
priest: 

‘‘Don’t move about too much. Monsieur Dor- 
rocks ; that bandage of yours may slip. ’ ’ 

The trader gave a sigh of relief. 

“That you. Padre? You got away safe, all 
right, then?” 

“Yes, thanks to you. It seems that I owe you 
my life, my friend.” 

“Oh, that’s all right,” Dorrocks returned hur¬ 
riedly, with a man’s hatred of thanks, “but it’s a 

35 


36 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

bit too soon for' us to ' con^atulate ourselves. 
We’re not out of Ning-po, yet!” 

‘‘No, that is true. But future dangers ought 
not to keep us from rejoicing for present safety. 
And I must admit that I was sick at heart mth the 
thought of the Garden of Torture, to which that 
mob was leading me. The howls of that crowd 
were nerve-racking, too. This underground place 
is tranquil, at least!” 

“It’s that, all right, and it’s safe. No one can 
find us here, for no one knows either the way in or 
the way out.” 

“I suppose you do know the way out?” 

There was a note of anxiety in Father Mar- 
sotte’s voice. 

“Sure!” the trader answered cheerfully. 
“That’s easy. You walk a little way along this 
passage, go through a hole in a wall into a sort 
of room, cross it, creep through another hole, 
and then up a long upward slope until you come 
to a barrier of masonry, blocking the way. To 
the right of it a narrow tunnel opens, just wide 
enough to walk through, about twenty yards 
further on there are some steps cut in the earth, 
and, at the top of them, you come to two wide 
upright beams almost touching each other. They 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


37 


turn on pivots, so that they can be twisted side¬ 
ways, and, if you’re not too fat, there’s just about 
enough room to squeeze through between them. 
The beams open into the arch of a small bridge in 
a private garden. If no one is watching, you can 
walk right out.” 

‘^Yes, I thought the exit was something like 
that,” the priest rejoined. ^^Well, while you 
were unconscious, I tried that way.” 

^‘And then?” 

found out the trick of the beams without 
difficulty, but when I had twisted them, on the 
other side of them I found a stone wall.” 

^^What?” cried the trader, in consternation, 
wall of solid masonry,” Father Marsotte 
affirmed. felt all over it for some kind of a 
secret spring, because I was determined to get 
out, if I could, in order to procure some lotion for 
your wound. But I was not able to find any kind 
of door in that wall. The stones were not mor¬ 
tared, so far as I could feel with my fingers, but 
they were wedged from the outside.” 

Dorrocks exploded with an oath. 

For a moment or two he said nothing more, 
and, by his silence, the priest concluded that the 
news was grave. 


38 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

‘‘My own blasted faultthe trader burst out, 
presently. “And those stones can’t be moved 
from the inside! I told Chin-sa to put them in, 
since I’d decided not to use the passage myself. 
That was before I saw you. Padre.” 

“And who is Chin-sa?” 

“My wife.” 

“A Chinese woman?” 

The trader caught the note of reproof in the 
voice, and hastened to excuse himself. 

“Yes, she’s Chinese, but she had my son, Dun¬ 
can, with her. Here, I’ll tell you about it,” and 
Dorrocks proceeded to recount the story of the 
escape. “So, you see, Padre,” he ended, “I had 
to give up the idea of using the secret passage 
for myself, if I wanted to throw that mob off the 
scent.” 

“You say the door opens out into Ying Hsiu’s 
garden and that you have sent your son to him, ’ ’ 
replied Father Marso'tte. “H’m, I wonder if 
that was Avise, my friend. I have heard much 
about Ying Hsiu. Do you suppose the boy will 
be safe in his hands?” 

“Blackmail isn’t generally supposed to be a 
high-toned fashion of getting what you want,” 
came the frank answer, “but in this country, at 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


39 


least, it’s mighty apt to be successful. That old 
Chinese fox will be scared stiff to think that the 
papers which he knew I had in my possession are 
now in some one else’s hands.” 

‘‘Are they so very compromising, Monsieur 
Dorrocks?” 

“They surely are! Just think! I’ve got 
proofs that Ying Hsiu betrayed his own party 
and let the British into Ning-po by the water 
gate, in 1841 , during the Opium War. I’ve got 
papers showing how he double-crossed the co- 
hong (the official merchants’ guild), before and 
after the war. What’s more, I’ve got a letter 
which he sent in 1843 to Caleb Cushing, our envoy 
from the U. S., in which he offered to arrange a 
secret commercial treaty without the consent of 
the Emperor.” 

“It would mean his death, I suppose, if the in¬ 
formation should become known?” 

“Not only that,” agreed the trader, “but, as I 
took care to mention in my message to him, it 
would mean official dishonor besides. To use the 
Chinese phrase, it would mean that ‘his name is 
not deemed worthy of perpetuation. ’ That would 
entail the murder of all his sons, grandsons and 
other male descendants, and—what a Chinaman 


40 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

thinks far worse—the disinterment of all his an¬ 
cestors.^’ 

‘^Yes, I see. That would be serious. But, if I 
may ask, how did you contrive to obtain those 
papers?” 

‘T was his partner in some of the deals,” an¬ 
swered Dorrocks shortly, ‘^but that’s a long time 
ago.” 

Father Marsotte recognized the latter phrase 
to be designed as a dismissal of the subject, but 
he determined, inwardly, to find out more of Dor- 
rocks’ story, at some other time. 

The trader’s anonymous gift to the mission hos¬ 
pital was not unknown to the priest, who had fer¬ 
reted out the source of the money. Naturally, he 
was interested in the donor, and the story of 
Chin-sa and Duncan was not unknown to him, 
though details were lacking. More than once the 
priest had asked himself whether it was not his 
duty to interfere in the case, to insist that the boy 
should have Christian baptism, and should be sent 
away to be educated in a Christian land. The 
trader’s open hostility to missionaries, however, 
rendered such interference diificult. 

‘‘Evidently you know a great deal about those 



ENTOMBED ALIVE 


41 


times/’ rejoined Father Marsotte, following Dor- 
rocks’ lead. ‘^That was before I came here. 
Perhaps yon will be good enough to tell me some¬ 
thing about the Opium War when you are 
stronger and when we have escaped from this 
place. But if you say that the wall cannot be 
pulled down from the inside, how are we going to 
get free?” 

We’ll have to wait until the fire has died down 
and the crowd has dispersed. Then we can get 
out the way we came in.” 

‘ ^ I hope so, but I doubt it, ’ ’ said the priest. ‘ ‘ A 
few minutes after you fainted, I heard a terrific 
crash right above the place where you were lying. 
I judged, by the sound, that the house had fallen. 
Any way, the cement-lined door has been driven 
in, plugging up the staircase, and there is prob¬ 
ably much debris upon it. I tried to move the 
obstruction, but it would not budge. ’ ’ 

Dorrocks propped himself up on one elbow, 
with a gasp of dismay. 

Great Cats! Then we’re trapped! Trapped 
fast! There’s only the two doors!” 

Silence fell, while each man grasped the terrible 
reality of being entombed alive. 


42 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

The priest was the first to speak. 

‘^You mean that we shall starve to death, 
here?’’ 

‘^No, not that, at least! Not for a while, any 
way,” Dorrocks returned, with a note of relief in 
his voice. ^T’ve got a store of food, here. I 
kept it as a reserve in case of a big opium raid.” 

‘Ts there plenty?” 

^‘Enough for the two of us for a week or so, I 
should think. Just ship’s biscuit, dried fish, 
smoked squid, rice-mne, and a jar or two of 
water. It’s not what you call rich feeding, but 
it’ll keep us going.” 

‘‘Come, that is better,” ejaculated the priest, 
earnestly, with a sigh of relief. “If you will tell 
me where to find that food, I will go and fetch 
some at once. I am speaking selfishly, my 
friend. I was taken prisoner yesterday after¬ 
noon, and I haven’t even had a drink of water, 
since. ’ ’ 

“Great Cats, Padre, why didn’t you say so?” 
Dorrocks exclaimed, forgetting that he had been 
unconscious for nearly two hours. “Here, let 
me get it for you, right away!” 

The priest put out his hand and forced the 
wounded man down. 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


43 

‘^Lie still!’’ he commanded. ‘T have band¬ 
aged you to the utmost of my skill in the pitch 
dark, but, naturally, I coiild not see what I was 
doing. If the bandage slips, there is a danger 
that you may start bleeding again, and you have 
lost too much blood, already.” 

Dorrocks resisted, but feebly. He knew that 
th^ priest was in the right. 

‘ ‘ Have it your own way. Padre, though I don’t 
know whether you can find the cache.” 

think so. While you were unconscious, I 
explored this underground haunt of yours as well 
as I could, hoping to find a way out. I have got 
the bearings of it fairly accurately, I believe.” 

‘‘Good! Did you come to a place which looks 
like a room?” 

“Or feels like one, rather! Yes! As a matter 
of fact, I thought there were two rooms. I cer¬ 
tainly found beds in one of them.” 

“Correct. There are two rooms. Now, in the 
room which hasn’t any beds, there’s a little char¬ 
coal stove.” 

“I found that.” 

“Could you find your way there again!” 

“Quite easily.” 

“Then you won’t have any trouble locating the 


44 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

grub. It’s in a little cupboard, built in the wall, 
to the right of the charcoal stove. There are 
candles on the bottom shelf. You can strike a 
light safely, no one can see it. The food is all in 
sealed tin boxes, to keep out rats. If you could 
bring me a drink, too, I’d be glad. I feel as if I 
were burning up.” 

^^That is nothing but a touch of fever,” said 
Father Marsotte, and set o:ff on his errand. 

‘‘You have quite a well-appointed retreat, 
here,” he commented, when he returned, carry¬ 
ing a bottle of rice-wine and water. “Here is 
your drink. I have not brought you any food, 
because it will be better for you to take something 
to eat when you are lying in bed properly. This 
damp ground will not do you any good, and your 
shoulder will give you trouble for a week or so, 
my friend.” 

Dorrocks swore, and then excused himself. 

“I beg your pardon. Padre,” he said. “But 
that’s serious. I’ll need that arm, and need it 
bad, if we have to dig our way out of here. And, 
when we do get out, escaping from Ning-po isn’t 
going to be any too easy.” 

“No, I suppose not.” 

“I can probably manage it, so far as you’re 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


45 

concerned,’’ pursued the trader, thoughtfully, 
^‘but it’s a bit more difficult for me.” 

”Why?” 

‘‘Perhaps you don’t know that I’m an opium 
smuggler ? ’ ’ 

“Oh, yes; I have known that a long time. In 
effect, I have done my best to have you ejected 
from Ning-po, several times.” 

‘ ‘ Thanks I ’ ’ retorted Dorrocks ironically, by no 
means offended by the priest’s frankness. 
“That’s part of your business, I suppose. We 
won’t argue over opium-smuggling, now. But the 
‘factory’ merchants have got it in for me worse 
than you have. They’d help you to a ship, but 
they wouldn’t help me. ’ ’ 

“So that is how it is. Well, it seems to me that 
the merchants will have to find us a ship together. 
It would scarcely be the fashion of a Christian to 
desert a man in need. By the way, you are not a 
Catholic, I suppose?” 

“I’m nothing!” snapped back Dorrocks, sus¬ 
piciously, and with antagonism. 

“Do not be alarmed!” and, by the tone of his 
voice, the trader guessed that his companion was 
smiling, “I shall not try to convert you, now. 
Any good doctor will tell you that it is bad med- 


46 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

ical practice to worry a patient, and, for the 
present, you are my patient.’^ 

“I don^t want to seem ungrateful—the 
opium smuggler began, remembering that the 
priest had bandaged his shoulder and given up 
his cassock to make a pillow. But Father Mar- 
sotte interrupted: 

“It is not worth the pains to make fine phrases. 
If you have finished with that bottle—and I think 
you have had enough to quench your thirst—it 
would be better if you could try to walk as far 
as the bed. I am not strong enough to carry a 
man of your size, my friend. 

“Oh, I^m not so weak as all that!’^ declared 
Dorrocks. 

With the priest ^s assistance he got up on his 
feet,'and tottered along, unsteadily, leaning heav¬ 
ily on his companion. 

“This is a strange place,pursued Father 
Marsotte, “did you make it yourself?’^ 

“Not all of it. Ying Hsiu began it. Wow!^’ 
he groaned as a rough place in the flooring caused 
him to stumble and gave his wound a jolt. 
“Wait a bit till I get to bed. Padre, and 1^11 tell 
you the story.” 

The distance was not long, and with a few en- 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


47 

couraging words from the priest, Dorrocks was 
soon between the blankets. 

‘^What did Ying Hsiu have to do with this re¬ 
treat, then?’’ queried Father Marsotte, who was 
anxious to keep his patient from lying still and 
worrying. 

‘‘This was his own hidie-hole, to start with,” 
Dorrocks explained. “Ying Hsiu, for all his 
swell ways now, isn’t of good stock. He’s pushed 
his way up. When I first knew him he was only 
a fiadoVj or sort of customs agent. But, even at 
that time, he was getting rich fast.” 

“Bribes, I suppose?” queried the priest, who 
was busy preparing a little food. 

“Bribes from foreigners on one side, and 
cheating his own government on the other. He 
got a rake-off coming and going. In addition to 
that, he ran a big receiving shop for smuggled 
goods. He had a rat of a Portuguese clerk, who 
knew every dirty trick in the Oriental trade, and 
Ying Hsiu wasn’t a slouch at inventing some 
crooked ones himself. Out of his profits he 
bought that big house of his with the garden 
which goes down right to the river. So far as 
the water side was concerned, he was well fix;ed. 

“Now, it’s one thing to secure smuggled goods, 


48 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

and it^s another to get rid of them. Ying Hsiu 
used to have dealings with all sorts of queer peo¬ 
ple, and, of course, he couldn’t have them going 
to his house. That would rouse suspicion; so he 
used to meet them here. 

^^But you can understand. Padre, it wouldn’t do 
for him to be seen coming here, either. People 
would ask what a man like Ying Hsiu was doing 
in a mean little house, on a back street. So he 
had an underground tunnel made, right from his 
own room, underneath his garden, and into the 
sub-basement of this house. His servant, Li Hin, 
who knows all his master’s schemes, looked after 
the driving of the tunnel. 

^‘Little by little Ying Hsiu got up in the world. 
He hadn’t any scruples and he gave bribes gen¬ 
erously. He was made a judge, then a councillor, 
got the decoration of the Blue Feather, and be¬ 
came one of the co-hong. His only trouble was 
that dozens of smaller people who knew his past 
used to blackmail him. He always paid for si¬ 
lence, but, one by one, all his former partners or 
servants died or disappeared. People suspected 
him, of course, but they could never prove any-/ 
thing.” 

‘T wonder that you escaped.” 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


49 


admitted the trader, ‘^he did try to 
get me three or four times, but I was always on 
the lookout. For another thing, he didn^t dare 
to go too far with me; he knew that I had the 
strangle-hold on him because of compromising 
papers that were in my possession. 

‘T should have thought he would have seized 
you, and taken the papers.’’ 

‘‘You don’t suppose that I was such a fool as 
to carry ,them on me! No, that was fixed so that 
if I disappeared, he would be exposed. Hence, 
I’m alive still. 

“When the old fox found that he could not 
touch me directly, he set to work to injure my 
business, hoping to make Ning-po so unpleasant 
for me that I should be forced to leave the city. 
I was chased out of three houses in succession, 
one time leaving with less than three minutes to 
spare, and, though I hunted up the most out-of- 
the-way places that I could, Ying Hsiu was al¬ 
ways on my track. It soon got pretty clear to 
me that I’d either have to get out of the city— 
which meant ruin—or else I’d have to find some 
means of concealment as shrewdly contrived as 
the one which the old fox himself had made. 

“Then the idea came to me to work from his 


50 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

own old house, reopening his secret sub-basement. 
So far as the police were concerned, that might 
have worked perfectly, but I had to abandon the 
idea, just the same.’’ 

‘^Whyf” 

‘‘Because Ying Hsiu knew all about the sub¬ 
basement and would have given information to 
the authorities. I would have been caught, sure. 
You see, I had to blind the old fox as well as 
the police, and he knew every trick in the game, 
of old. 

“So I bought a house on the next street, quite 
a little distance away, being careful to find a 
place from which a tunnel could be made under 
a yard where they keep dyeing-vats. I had to 
do that, because, if I tried to tunnel under an¬ 
other house, I might run into a sub-basement 
there. Some of these places, you know, have 
three, or even four, stories underground. 

“So I ran my tunnel from that house under the 
dyeing-yard, broke through the wall into this sub¬ 
cellar, tore out Ying Hsiu’s obstruction and car¬ 
ried the stones, one by one, to rebuild it farther 
on, about half-way across the garden. From 
there I dug upwards, so as to come out just under 
the arch.” 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


51 

‘^That must have taken some close calcula¬ 
tion/’ commented Father Marsotte. ‘‘How could 
you tell?” 

“I didn’t get it quite right the first time, I 
went too far. But it was easy to correct it after¬ 
wards. You see, that arch spans an artificial 
stream in a rock garden, so, while the rocks look 
as if they belong there, they’re really only 
boulders resting on the soil. That way, I felt 
pretty safe. No one would ever search Ying 
Hsiu’s garden. 

“It made a complete lay-out. I had a simple 
house on a distant street, a place which anyone 
could raid without finding anything, I had these 
cellars for storing goods I didn’t want the au¬ 
thorities to find, and I had an exit in a private 
garden which leads directly to the river.” 

“And for air?” 

“Oh, I’ve worked several little tricks for that. 
There’s one air hole in the arch of the bridge, 
hidden by the rock-work, one which goes up to a 
broken brick hole in Ying Hsiu’s garden wall, 
and one which connects with the upper side of 
a drain pipe leading from the dyer’s yard. That 
gives a steady current. If you’ll notice, the air, 
here, is pure enough.” 


52 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

‘^Yes, I had observed that. But have you ever 
needed to use this place before to-day 

^^For storage, of course, IVe been using it all 
the time. And, as a way of escape, it saved my 
life at least once before.’^ 

^‘How was that?^^ 

^‘Oh, a regular Chinese affair. One day I got 
a message from a man saying that he had a 
special cargo coming in, and which he wanted me 
to handle— 

‘^Smuggled goods 

‘‘Opium. He said he couldn^t come to see me, 
but he wanted me to meet him in a village a few 
miles away. Of course, in my business, IVe got 
to have secret agents everywhere and from one 
of these I soon found out that several hong 
‘peace-givers^ (professional assassins) had come 
into the village the day before. It wasn^t hard 
to guess that I was the man they were after. 

“Naturally, I started off as if I were going to 
the village, visited the house of one of my agents, 
disguised myself, came back here, moved all the 
contraband into the cellar and lived here for a 
week. 

“The murder gang in the little village failed to 



ENTOMBED ALIVE 


S3 


find me, of course, and its leader had his head 
cut off for his pains. The opium-hunters raided 
this place—I always suspected that they weren’t 
the real article but fake officials sent by this 
man—but they didn’t find any opium and they 
didn’t find me. A week later, I reappeared in 
the house. The people thought it was sorcery— 
which didn’t do me any harm. ’ ’ 

‘^You say that no one knows anything about 
this place. How about your wife 1 ’ ’ 

Dorrocks shrugged his shoulders. 

^‘That’s a risk I had to run, but I figured that 
Chin-sa would lose so much by betraying me that 
self-interest would keep her faithful, after her 
own fashion. And then, she’s got cause to be 
grateful. 

^^You see, she became a widow when only a 
girl, her husband, who was a fisherman, having 
been drowned in a typhoon. According to Chi¬ 
nese custom, being a widow and a childless one 
at that, she had to go back to the house of her 
mother-in-law as a common drudge. 

‘T knew the old woman well, she used to buy 
opium from me, and she was a regular fiend, one 
of that kind that loves to watch torture. She 


54 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

used to torment animals for her own pleasure. 
You can imagine what kind of a life she led her 
widowed daughter-in-law! 

^‘Well, the more I saw of the treatment that 
girl suffered, the madder I got. Chin-sa was so 
young, so pretty, so horribly ill-used. I didn’t 
dare say a word, of course; if I had said any¬ 
thing, the mother-in-law would have been all the 
worse. 

‘‘But I determined to get that girl-widow free! 

“So I let the old woman get more and more 
heavily in my debt for opium, and then, one day, 
I shut down on supplies. 

“I don’t need to tell you. Padre, what a hor¬ 
ror that is to a confirmed opium-smoker. The 
mother-in-law got just about green with fear that 
she would never get any more of the drug, be¬ 
cause, at that time, I was about the only person 
in Ning-po who could smuggle it through. So, 
when I offered to clear off the debt and send a 
case of opium to boot if she would hand Chin-sa 
over to me, the old hag jumped at the chance. 
She didn’t know where I lived, so I was 
safe against pursuit.” He paused a moment. 
“That was seven years ago. 

“Of course,” the trader went on thoughtfully, 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


\ 



may be misjudging Chin-sa in saying that she 
stays with me only because she has nowhere else 
to go. She seems a loyal little soul at bottom. 
But I^m a bit suspicious of the Yellow Kace, all 
through. You see, my business doesn’t bring me 
in contact with the best side of human character.” 

^‘Probably not,” agreed Father Marsotte, ‘‘but 
whether you are right or wrong in your estimate 
of your wife’s character, I should be inclined to 
say that if she has been loyal to you for seven 
years, you should be ready to trust her. 

“Now, I am going to order you to stop talking. 
I am your doctor, you know, and doctors must be 
obeyed. You have passed through a period of 
strain and you have lost much blood. As for me, 
I must admit that I am dropping with sleep; my 
Chinese captors kept me awake all last night de¬ 
scribing to me all the different tortures I was go¬ 
ing to suffer. It was far from being pleasant!’^ 

He picked up the candle, examined Dorrocks’ 
shoulder to make sure that the bandage had not 
slipped, then blew out the light and threw him¬ 
self on the other bed. A few heavy breaths and 
he was asleep. 

Fourteen hours passed before Dorrocks woke, 
and the priest was sleeping still. The trader’s 


56 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

first waking thought was of some means of escap¬ 
ing from their underground trap, hut no way oc¬ 
curred to him except by tunnelling upwards into 
another part of Ying Hsiu’s garden. He knew 
by experience that this was the work of a couple 
of weeks, at least, and his arm was useless. Un¬ 
wittingly he moved it slightly, and could not re¬ 
press a groan. 

Father Marsotte was awake and beside him in 
an instant. 

^‘Has the bandage slipped? Is anything 
wrong?he inquired anxiously. 

‘‘Nothing, Padre, I got thinking of escape and 
made a false movement; that was all.’^ 

“My friend,’^ the priest rejoined, “put that 
idea of escape out of your head for the present, 
at least. There is food enough, here, for ten 
days at least, and it will be fully a week before 
your shoulder is healed sufficiently for you to 
move it without danger. If you start worrying 
you will retard the healing process.’^ 

“But weVe got to get out!’^ 

“Without doubt. Still, if I have understood 
you rightly, the longer the delay, the better. 
Your scheme to make the rioters think that we 
preferred suicide to torture was an excellent one. 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


57 


and they are sure to believe that we are dead. 
If nothing is seen or heard of us for a week, their 
belief will become a certainty. We can discuss 
methods of escape when you are better.’^ 

‘‘But it’s tough on you, Padre!” 

“I am doing my work just as much here as 
anywhere,” the priest replied. “You need nurs¬ 
ing, and when there is real need, it matters little 
whether the work is done in a well-equipped hos¬ 
pital or in an opium smuggler’s den.” 

Dorrocks winced a little at the phrase, and 
Father Marsotte noticed it. 

“I have wondered,” the priest went on, “how- 
you ever came to take up this business. If you 
were an Englishman, it might be natural enough, 
because, of course, that is part of the work of the 
East India Company. Yet if I understood you 
yesterday, you are an American. And, as a rule, 
the Americans are hot against opium-trading.” 

“I’m an American, all right,” the trader 
agreed, “and a New England man, at that. I 
didn’t begin in the opium business, and, in a way, 
it was forced on me. I’m not proud of what I’m 
doing now. I’ll admit, but in the years gone by, 
I reckon I’ve done as much as any one in trying 
to open China to the commerce and progress of 


58 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

the Western World. The Dutch merchants were 
the first to get to China, but I guess the Amer¬ 
icans are going to get the trade of the Pacific 
and to hold it; that is,^^ he added, unable to sup¬ 
press a sneer, ‘‘unless the missionaries spoil it 
all!’’ 

“The Dutch were not the first,” Father Mar- 
sotte corrected acidly, “and merchants did not 
lead the way. Nor need you, of all men, sneer 
at missionaries and betray your ignorance! 

“Probably you have often heard it said that 
‘religion follows the flag.’ That is entirely 
wrong. Trade follows the flag, but religion pre¬ 
cedes it. 

“Nestorian missionaries had reached China 
five hundred years before the first trading ship 
from Europe sailed into the Yellow Sea, and 
French missionaries had free access to China and 
had even gained great influence with the high of¬ 
ficials of the Empire two centuries before com¬ 
merce began. 

“I know quite well that you are hostile to mis¬ 
sionaries, but do not forget this, my friend,” and 
the voice of Father Marsotte grew emphatic, “the 
liberation of China and Japan was hindered by 
trade, not helped by it. Commerce, in the short 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


59 

space of eighty years, ruined all the gain that 
had been achieved by centuries of heroic work. 
Every massacre in the history of China and 
Japan can be laid at the feet of the trader!’^ 
Prove it!’^ cried Dorrocks indignantly. 
‘TVe always been told that it was missionary 
interference which brought about anti-foreign 
riots. 

‘‘Then you have been told wrong,was the 
terse answer. “Your statement that the Dutch 
were the first to come to China shows that you 
are ignorant of the early history of this country. 
Before you begin to attack missionary effort. 
Monsieur Dorrocks, you ought at least to be sure 
of your information!’’ 

“Who were the first, thenP’ queried the trader, 
less offensively, for the priest’s calm authority 
was telling. 

“To come to China by sea, you mean? The 
Portuguese, undoubtedly while Columbus was 
still trying to convince the world that Cuba was 
China, and before he even discovered the Amer¬ 
ican continent, Vasco da Gama had rounded the 
Cape of Good Hope and had reached Malaysia by 
the Eastward Passage, thus gaining the world’s 
great commercial goal. 


6o WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


^Tn 1502 a regular trade route was established, 
and, in 1504, the Portuguese sent out a Viceroy 
of the Spice Islands. For a good many years the 
Portuguese station acted as a distributing point, 
Chinese and Japanese junks handling the eastern 
traffic, Portuguese vessels bringing the goods to 
Europe. As early as 1503 Catholic missionaries 
sailed on the Chinese junks and carried on the 
Christianization of China which the Nestorians 
had begun. That was before Protestantism was 
even heard of. ’ ^ 

Dorrocks, although in no sense a religious man, 
had been brought up a Protestant, and rather 
resented this side-slap at the recency of the Re¬ 
formation, but he only asked: 

‘^When did the first European ship actually 
reach China?’’ 

‘Tn 1516, when a Portuguese vessel sailed up 
the river to Canton. The commander was well 
known to several junk-captains, who vouched for 
his status as a peaceful trader. The vessel was 
allowed to drop anchor close to the city, and no 
difficulty was put in the way of trading. 

‘Tf the Portuguese had continued in this way, 
all would have been well. Several thousand Chi¬ 
nese converts had been made—among them even 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 6i 

mandarins and men of influence—and the Chinese 
merchants had begun to realize the value of 
European trade. But the Portuguese were not 
satisfied. Instead of being content to trade with 
the Chinese in the Chinese way, they determined 
to establish trading-stations of their own on Chi¬ 
nese territory, and to force their ways upon an 
unwilling people. 

‘‘The year following, in 1517, the Portuguese 
Viceroy of the Spice Islands sent a fleet of eight 
armed vessels, bearing an envoy to the Emperor 
of China, demanding free opportunities for trade. 
The number and the heavy armament of the ships 
aroused suspicion. To make matters worse, the 
Portuguese claimed the right to impose their will 
on the peoples of the Orient by ‘right of discov¬ 
ery. ^ How can you explain to a people with four 
thousand years of civilization that it has only 
just been discovered?” 

“Well, it had only just been!” 

“By Europe, yes! But that was Europe^s ig¬ 
norance, not China’s! 

“Naturally, the Emperor of China—who was 
regarded as a Divine Being—could not receive 
the armed envoy. Moreover, when this Portu¬ 
guese Don began to make these absurd preten- 


62 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


sions about the ^right of discovery,^ he angered 
even the most friendly of the Chinese. 

‘‘At last the Portuguese got tired of waiting 
for favorable action on their demands and sent 
an ultimatum that the envoy must be received. 
This ultimatum was answered by a curt order 
from the governor of Canton, bidding the stran¬ 
gers sail out of the harbor within three days. 
The order was backed up by twenty Chinese war- 
junks. 

“The Europeans fired the first shot and sank 
two junks, but they were forced to sail away with 
all speed, nevertheless. That was the beginning 
of trouble. Two weeks later, two missionaries 
who had gained an honored position in the Court 
of Pekin were martyred, and thousands of Clii- 
nese converts recanted because of the insult to 
their ‘Divine^ Emperor. These tragedies were 
directly due to the Portuguese traders. 

“By what was known as the Papal Line, a de¬ 
cree of arbitration which divided all newly dis¬ 
covered lands between the two maritime coun¬ 
tries of Portugal and Spain, everything east of 
the longitude of outermost West Indies belonged 
to Portugal, and everything west to Spain. Ac- 





Macao, from thb Forts of Heang-Shau 




ENTOMBED ALIVE 63 

cordingly the Portuguese claimed the monopoly 
of all Chinese, Japanese, Polynesian, and Indian 
trade. This commerce was enormously profit¬ 
able, and, with the money thus gained, Portugal 
built many warships and became the leading na¬ 
val power in the Orient. So strong did she be¬ 
come that she could defy the power of China at 
sea, and, in the teeth of open hostility, main¬ 
tained a regular commerce with the Celestial 
Empire, even succeeding in establishing perma¬ 
nent settlements at Amoy and Ning-po.’^ 

‘‘Here, in Ning-poP^ queried the trader, in 
amazement. 

“In this very place, my friend. As a matter 
of fact, the old Portuguese fort was only about a 
mile down the river from where the Dutch ‘fac¬ 
tory^ stands to-day.’^ 

“What happened that they lost itP’ 

“Greedanswered the priest, shortly. “The 
Portuguese, as you probably know were inveter¬ 
ate slave-traders. They controlled the African 
slave-trade of the world. It was a traffic which 
brought in huge returns. They tried it in China. 

“From their posts at Macao, Amoy, and Ning- 
po they sent armed parties into the villages a 


64 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

short distance inshore, capturing laborers, whom 
they sold into slavery, and kidnapping women, 
whom they kept for themselves.’^ 

^‘But that was asking for trouble!” 

‘ ‘ It was profitable, and when does a trader ever 
think of anything else but his own profits? But 
you are right. Monsieur Dorrocks, it was asking 
for trouble, and the Portuguese got what they 
asked for. Full measure, pressed down and run¬ 
ning over! 

*‘One night, in the year 1529, an anti-foreign 
riot began in Ning-po, not unlike that which is 
raging above our heads now. Before dawn, 
nearly eight hundred Portuguese had been killed, 
and thirty-five ships burned. Only one vessel, 
with a few survivors got away.” 

Eight hundred!” repeated the trader, as¬ 
tonished. ‘‘Did the Portuguese ever have so big 

a colony here? And now, three centuries later, 

♦ 

we can only muster up a miserable twenty mer¬ 
chants, living in daily fear of their lives!” 

“Yes, and there were over a thousand Portu¬ 
guese in Amoy and Macao. As I told you, there 
were thousands of converts, besides. Eighteen 
Christian churches had been built before the 
Mayflower first touched American shores, so you 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 65 

see, it’s a long time back. If it had not been for 
the slave-traders, all China might have been 
Christianized centuries ago!” 

‘^When did the Dutch come, then?” queried 
Dorrocks, not anxious to press too closely this 
trading question, for he was well aware that his 
own position was none too justifiable. 

‘^Not until a hundred years later, and then only 
because they were at war with the Portuguese. 
In 1622, a squadron of seventeen Dutch war-ships 
suddenly appeared before Macao and besieged the 
Portuguese fort. But, gallant fighters though 
the Dutch were, they were beaten off with heavy 
losses. The Portuguese—at that time the 
greatest navigators and shipbuilders in the world 
—pursued them and harried them until the 
Dutch took refuge on the Pescadores Islands, 
lying between the mainland and Formosa. 

Perhaps, if they had only tried to establish 
a trading-station, there, they might have been 
left alone, for no one cared much about the is¬ 
lands. But the Dutch hoisted their flag and de¬ 
clared the islands a Dutch colony. Once again 
they vaunted the ^right of discovery,’ an idiotic 
claim, as I look at it, for the fisher-folk of the 
islands were completely organized after the Chi- 



66 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


nese system, and had even a Mandarin of the 
Second Order as judge and governor. 

‘‘Of course, you can see what happened. The 
handful of Chinese on the islands attacked the 
Dutch and were defeated. Then a huge fleet of 
junks swept out from the mainland and the Dutch 
barely had time to get into their vessels, slip 
their anchors and run. Owing to the better sail¬ 
ing qualities of their ships, they escaped the fleet 
of junks and managed to reach Formosa. 

“Just about that time, another Dutch fleet ar¬ 
rived, and with these reenforcements, the Hol¬ 
landers declared Formosa a Dutch colony. They 
put up a strong fort and settled down to stay. ’ ’ 
“And Japan has the island, now!’^ 

“Oh, the Dutch got expelled from there long 
before the Japanese occupation. In fact, in spite 
of all their cannon and their so-called civilized 
methods of warfare, the Europeans only held 
Formosa for twenty-eight years. It took China 
quite a long time to begin, but when she did start, 
she punished the Dutch heavily and drove them 
out of the island in a most humiliating fashion.^’ 
“I never heard of that!^^ commented Dorrocks. 
“Why should you? The Dutch do not boast 
about it, you may be sure, and, apparently, you 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


67 


have never read Chinese history from the Chinese 
point of view. How do yon suppose that you 
can get a correct idea of a country if you depend 
on the reports of its enemies? Most histories of 
China have been written by Englishmen.’’ 

^^When did the English first come?” 

‘‘While the Dutch were still at Formosa, and 
while the Chinese authorities were getting ready 
a force to expel them. That was in 1635. Four 
English men-of-war, the property of the East 
India Company—a chartered government con¬ 
cern—sailed into the mouth of the Canton Kiver. 
The Bogue forts, at the mouth, halted them with 
a warning shot. A mandarin came aboard and 
explained that no armed vessel was allowed to 
pass up the river until the consent of the author¬ 
ities at Canton was obtained. 

“This was reasonable enough, on the face of 
it, but the English quite understood that this 
suave request was merely a means of gaining 
time until sufficient Chinese forces could be gath¬ 
ered to repel the invaders. The massacre of the 
Portuguese at Ning-po and the expulsion of the 
Dutch from the Pescadores were well known, and, 
like most Europeans, the English thought that 
the white man was justified in everything he did 


68 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


and the yellow man in nothing. Justice, free¬ 
dom, fair play—everything must be sacrificed to 
the sacred rights of making money by trade! ’ ’ 
^‘Youh*e as harsh on the trader as I was on 
the missionaiy,’’ retorted Dorrocks. 

‘T^m giving you the facts 
“What happened when the English were told 
to waitP’ queried the opium smuggler, realizing 
that he stood small chance in any argument with 
Father Marsotte. 

“Without even giving time for the mandarin 
to get to shore, without any declaration of war, 
without any warning, the English ships opened 
fire on the forts, which were soon silenced. A 
large landing-party of sailors and marines was 
sent on shore, the forts were stormed and burned 
to the ground, and three villages near the mouth 
of the river were sacked. 

“This done, the fleet went up the river to Can¬ 
ton, and demanded the right to trade. The au¬ 
thorities sent another message of delay. The 
captains refused to wait and answered that un¬ 
less the port officials agreed instantly to the 
demands of the East India Company, the city 
would be sacked. But this was a little too high¬ 
handed, and Canton was too big to be captured 



ENTOMBED ALIVE 69 

by a handful of sailors. The ultimatum was re¬ 
ceived with defiance. 

‘immediately, the British ships dropped a 
short distance down the river and sent landing- 
parties ashore with instructions to loot as many 
villages as possible and to use their cutlasses 
freely on any one who resisted. So sweeping was 
the destruction that the distracted authorities of 
Canton had to submit. They sent word that the 
British might dispose of their cargoes on condi¬ 
tion that they left the river within three days. 
The English were nothing loth. They sold their 
goods at a high price, and they filled the holds 
of their ships with stolen plunder. But thirty 
years passed before another British vessel dared 
to poke her bow into Chinese waters. 

“I think you will have to admit,’’ the priest 
continued, “that however much profit the mer¬ 
chants may have made, the results were most de¬ 
plorable to those who had the interests of China 
and of Christianity at heart. 

“Three European nations had visited China, 
the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English. The 
Portuguese had commenced slave-trading and the 
kidnapping of women, the Dutch had seized ter¬ 
ritory to which they had not the shadow of a 


70 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

claim, and the English had begun a career of 
bullying and loot. As for the Spanish, who had 
seized the Philippines in 1543, while they Chris¬ 
tianized the Filipinos with amazing success, they 
exploited the Chinese there, and robbed them of 
everything they possessed. 

‘ Ts it surprising, then, that China became more 
and more determined to keep the Toreign devils’ 
away!” 

^‘No,” the trader agreed, ‘T don’t see that the 
Chinese could have done anything else. But did 
England let the matter rest at that!” 

‘^No, indeed. I could tell you a dozen stories 
of the adventures of English ships and sailors, 
not only at Oriental ports, but among the Chinese 
pirates, besides. The Eighteenth Century was 
a lurid one in the China seas, for a good many of 
the ^pirates’ were really privateers, preying on 
foreign vessels with the full consent of the gov¬ 
ernment. That was why England tried to restore 
trade by diplomatic means. During that cen¬ 
tury, nine embassies were sent, uniformly mth- 
out success. 

‘‘The largest and most important of them was 
in 1794, and as this happened just after your 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


71 

country became free, Monsieur Dorrocks, it mav 
interest you. 

‘‘The ambassador chosen for this difficult task 
of approaching the Emperor of China was Lord 
Macartney, who held no less important a position 
than ’Governor-General of India. Three men-of- 
war were sent as convoy, and the presents offered 
were of the most magniticent order. So large 
was the train and upon so sumptuous a style was 
it organized that, upon landing, it required 120 
carts and 400 coolies to transport the presents 
and the personal effects of the English envoy and 
his retinue. 

“Yet this was far from impressing the Court 
at Pekin. The Emperor, the ‘Son of Heaven,’ 
would not even take the trouble of coming to his 
capital to receive the English envoy, but re¬ 
mained at Jehol, a hunting lodge far in the inte¬ 
rior. When informed of the arrival of the Eng¬ 
lish, he sent word that ‘those bearing tribute 
from inferior nations should present themselves 
before him with becoming humility.’ 

“Lord Macartney and his retinue had to travel 
overland for many weary weeks before they 
reached the neighborhood of the Emperor. 


72 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

There, the Chinese authorities were most gra¬ 
cious and hospitable, but several weeks more 
were spent before the Emperor agreed to waive 
the kow-tow, or ceremonial prostration of sub¬ 
mission and humility. Macartney, with great 
deftness and skill, succeeded in reducing this de¬ 
mand to a mere kneeling. After another month 
delay he was admitted to the Presence, and, upon 
his knees, tendered the personally signed letter 
of the King of England. 

‘^The Chinese Emperor, true to his tradition 
as a Divine Being, maintained an absolute im¬ 
mobility. He did not speak, he did not even look 
at the envoy, and the letter was taken from Lord 
Macartney ^s hands only by an ‘ outer ^ official of 
the court. No one else moved or spoke, and the 
English envoy was forced to retire having made 
no more impression than if he 'had been a beetle 
on the floor. ^ 

"On liis return to his camp, wffiere, indeed, he 
was lavishly entertained, he was told—with many 
flowery phrases—to go back to Pekin. The en¬ 
voy protested, insisting on a personal reply from 
the Emperor, but, next morning, his sumptuous 
caravan was on the march. 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


73 


soon as he reached Pekin, Lord Macart¬ 
ney presented himself before the high official who 
had been deputed by the Emperor to meet him 
and pressed his demands for the re-opening of 
Ning-po, and also for the making of Ohu-san and 
Tien-tsin into treaty ports. 

^^He was doomed to disappointment. The 
Emperor, in his written reply to the King of 
England, loftily accepted the presents brought 
him as ‘tribute’ from a ‘subject nation,’ acknowl¬ 
edged the embassy as a personal homage to him¬ 
self, and dismissed the ‘petition’ of England con¬ 
cerning the ports in the following words: 

“ ‘What you wish to observe in matters of 
trade or barter, will, as heretofore, be conducted 
in Canton, and will be confined to Canton. You 
will not be able to complain that I had not clearly 
forewarned you. Let us therefore live in peace 
and friendship, and do not make light of my 
words!’ ” 

“Whew! That was certainly one in the eye 
for the British!” said Dorrocks. 

“It was, and, what is more, it was followed by 
a similar rebuff, twenty years later. Once again 
the British sent a similar embassy, even more 


74 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

richly burdened with presents, and headed by 
Lord Amherst, the new governor-general of 
India. 

‘^On this occasion the Emperor was residing in 
the Imperial Palace at Pekin. Lord Amherst 
was instructed that he must perform the kow-tow, 
prostrating himself before the Emperor and 
knocking his forehead on the ground, as a token 
of the submission of his country to China. Am¬ 
herst refused to do this, claiming Macartney’s 
case as a precedent. The reply came that the 
audience at Jehol had been informal and that eti¬ 
quette had been waived for that reason, but that, 
in Pekin, the English ^like all other tributary na¬ 
tions from afar’ must show becoming deference 
and submission to the ‘Emperor of All the 
World.’ ” 

“And did Amherst do it!” 

“No, he sailed away, refusing to present the 
king’s letter. That ended British efforts to open 
trade with China until they forced it upon her at 
the sword’s point in the Opium War, of which, ac¬ 
cording to what you have told me, you know far 
more than I. ’ ’ 

Dorrocks had listened with great interest and 
attention to this recital, and, when it was finished. 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


75 

he nodded his head vigorously in agreement. 

‘‘You certainly have got all that early history 
down pat/’ he affirmed, “and, some of these days. 
I’ll get you to tell me some of the mission yarns. 
They must be right exciting. But, Padre, I guess 
you don’t know so much about the American 
end. ’ ’ 

“No,” agreed the priest, “I do not. You see, 
my information has come mainly from missionary 
records and from the history of diplomacy.” 

“And the Americans didn’t carry many priests 
or diplomats with them! Well, I can tell you all 
about it, for the first ship that ever carried the 
Stars and Stripes into the habor of Canton was 
commanded by my father’s cousin. She was the 
Empress of Chinas a full-rigged clipper, and—” 

Father Marsotte darted across the room and 
clapped his hand across Dorrocks’ mouth. 

“Quiet!” he said in a whisper. “I hear 
sounds!” 

Both men stiffened to attention. 

Faint, very faint, came a noise as of knocking. 

“Some one is trying to get in!” 

Dorrocks swung himself to the edge of the bed, 
wincing as his shoulder pained him, but uttering 
no groan or cry. 


76 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

Quick, Padre,’’ he whispered. ‘‘Get the stuff 
back in the cupboard and straighten the beds.” 

‘ ‘ But where can we go ? ” 

The priest was no coward, but, at the thought 
that the torturers were again on his track, he 
broke out in a cold sweat all over. 

“There’s an inner hiding-place. It’s where 1 
put the earth I took out, in tunnelling. Quick! 
In here!” 

He pocketed some biscuits from the plate 
Father Marsotte was just putting in the cup¬ 
board, seized a bottle of the rice-wine and crept 
through a hole in the wall of the sleeping-cellar, 
the priest following him. 

The knocking, which sounded like some dull in¬ 
strument knocking upon stone or like two stones 
struck against each other, continued for a time 
and then ceased suddenly. 

For a long time, there was silence. 

In that underground passage where every 
sound echoed, the stillness was absolute. 

“Can they have got in?” asked the priest, 
tensely. 

“We’d hear their footsteps, if they had.” 

Again the silence. 

The minutes dragged interminably, and each 


ENTOMBED ALIVE 


77 

man heard the beating of his heart as though it 
were the knocking on the stones. 

‘^This waiting is terrible to bear!’^ declared 
Father Marsotte, more highly strung than his 
companion, after half an hour had elapsed. 
will go and listen if I can hear anything 

^ ^ Go in sock-feet, then. Padre. Keep your 
hands inside your sleeves and your head well 
down so^s the face won’t show. It’s the white 
hands and face that betray a man in the dark.” 

Father Marsotte slipped noiselessly out of the 
hole and moved cautiously across the floor, care¬ 
fully putting his foot forward at every step that 
he might not stumble. Dorrocks, listening anx¬ 
iously, could not catch the slightest sound of his 
movement. 

Presently he heard steps come pattering down. 
It was some one in sock-feet, running hard. 

Was the priest being pursued? 

The steps came nearer. 

‘^Quick! Your knife! ’’ cried Father Marsotte, 
as he came frantically stumbling through the 
dark. ^‘The door’s open, and there’s a woman 
there! She has strangled herself!” 


CHAPTER III 

THE OPIUM WAR 

Despite his wounded shoulder, Dorrocks scram¬ 
bled quickly out of his cramped hiding-place and 
followed Father Marsotte, who Wkd seized the 
knife and started back at full speed. Owing to 
his weakened condition, he was far behind his 
companion, and, when he reached the open en¬ 
trance, he saw the woman lying on the ground and 
the priest bending over her. 

As the trader had suspected from the first, it 
was Chin-sa. 

‘^How is she?’’ he panted, as he came running 

up. 

^^Just about alive, and that’s all!” 

Father Marsotte did not even look up. Hb had 
cut away the silk scarf by which the woman had 
strangled herself, and was working over her with 
artificial respiration. The early morning sun, 
pouring through the narrow doorway, shone 

cruelly upon the swollen and protruding eyeballs 

78 


THE OPIUM WAR 


79 

and on the bluish-colored face of the suffocated 
woman. 

For half an hour the rescuer worked silently, 
the sweat pouring down his face from his exer¬ 
tions. As he worked, however, his expression be¬ 
gan to clear, and a look of hope came to his face. 

^ ^ She’s coming to! ’ ’ he announced. 

He continued his labors without a second ^s in¬ 
terruption, and, presently, an eyelid fluttered. 
Again, thirty times more, the priest spread out 
the woman ^s arms to their full extent, brought 
them back upon her chest and pressed down hard 
upon the lungs, maintaining the movement with 
rythmic precision, thus forcing a pulsation. 

Presently Chin-sa gave a sigh, followed by a 
deep breath, and looked up. 

Her glance fell upon Dorrocks, and she tried 
to struggle to her feet. 

'^Lie stillordered Father Marsotte, in Chi¬ 
nese, ‘‘you have been ill.’’ 

The woman looked at him in wonderment, not 
realizing where she was nor who was this for¬ 
eigner who spoke to her so abruptly. But the 
gaze wandered, and she relapsed into uncon- 
^^ciousness. 

“She will be better off in bed,” said the mis- 


8o WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


sionary, ^^and we will carry her there. She is 
but a little bit of a thing, and her weight will not 
strain your one good arm.’’ 

With a little difficulty, for the passage was nar¬ 
row, the two men arrived with their burden in 
the sub-basement, from which they had been 
driven by the sound of the knocking. There 
Chin-sa was tucked under the blankets, still un¬ 
conscious. 

‘‘Well,” remarked the priest, when he was as¬ 
sured that his second patient was breathing nor¬ 
mally, “let us be thankful that it is no worse! 
When I heard that knocking, I made sure those 
torturing fiends were after us again.” 

Dorrocks did not reply. 

Father Marsotte looked up sharply. 

“What’s the matter? Aren’t you glad that 
your wife is safe?” 

“I know it sounds a bit brutal to say it,” the 
trader responded, “but you’d have done better 
not to have saved her.” 

“What do you mean?” came the horrified 
query. 

“Can’t you see that you’ve brought the mob 
on our tracks by rescuing her ? ” 

“How so?” 


THE OPIUM WAR 


8i 

“She’d strangled herself, hadn’t she?” 

“Evidently!’^ 

“I thought you understood Chinese customs, 
Padre! Surely you don’t suppose that she in¬ 
tended to be left there, unburied 1 You can bet 
that she gave instructions for some one to come 
and find her. No Chinese woman would forego a 
proper burial, especially since I promised her a 
splendid tomb! ’ ’ 

“Well? What then?” 

“When her friends come, and don’t find her, 
they’ll search the place thoroughly. That little 
hidie-hole where we were just now is a tight 
squeeze for two. Three of us could never get in 
there.” 

“But one could not leave a woman in a half- 
strangled state, to die! ’ ’ 

“I suppose not,” admitted Dorrocks, but he 
said it unwillingly. “If you had left her, though, 
when her friends came they’d have taken the body 
and that would have been the end of it. Now, 
we’re in a tight hole. They’ll search for her, and 
find us.” 

“You mean that we’ve got to get out of here, 
at once, then?” 

“Within twenty-four hours, anyway. We’re 


82 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


probably safe, that long. As you know, the 
Chinese believe that the soul doesn^t leave the 
body, right away, and that a few hours must be 
given it to find its way about, after death. Her 
friends will not come in search of her, probably, 
until to-morrow.’^ 

^‘Yes, though the mourners do not always allow 
the full twenty-four hours, I have noticed. We 
ought to leave here, I can see that, but surely 
there is no need for going far. We could hide 
somewhere close and watch for the woman’s 
friends to come. When they go away again, hav¬ 
ing found nothing, we can come back here.” 

”You can’t hide near here and come back,” 
retorted Dorrocks, ”that won’t do! Ying Hsiu 
is sure to hear of these goings-on. If he does, 
he’s shrewd enough to guess that there’ll be 
opium stored here, and he’ll have every corner 
examined and all the walls tapped. No, we’ve 
got to clear right out. ’ ’ 

‘^But the woman can’t be moved, yet.” 

”Leave her, and let her take her chance, then.” 

“No!” Father Marsotte’s tone was peremp¬ 
tory. “I know you think it doesn’t matter much 
what happens to a Chinese. But I have seen no 
reason to suppose that the value of a soul depends 


THE OPIUM WAR 


83 

on the color of the skin. Yon risked your life to 
save mine. Very well. Escape if you like. But 
I am willing to risk mine to save the woman!’’ 

‘T’m not going to have you make such a fool 
of yourself,” the trader answered roughly. ‘T 
didn’t save your life to have it thrown away. 
We’ll all go together, if you insist on it. How 
soon do vou think Chin-sa will be able to travel?” 

^^She ought to have a night’s sleep, of course. 
But, since the matter is urgent, there is no real 
danger in waking her after about four hours’ 
sleep. ’ ’ / 

‘‘Good; we’ll go then.” 

“But where?” 

“That’s just what I’ve been wondering. It’s 
no use going to the ‘factory’ merchants. Even if 
any of them are left alive, they wouldn’t bother 
about me. And they’d hoot at the idea of help¬ 
ing a Chinese woman to escape! If you insist 
on toting Chin-sa along, we’ll have to adopt en¬ 
tirely different tactics. But, I warn you, she 
won’t thank you for it.” 

“What else can you think of? You have had 
experience of this sort of thing, I have not. ’ ’ 

“It’s this shoulder of mine, that plays pitch- 
and-toss with any plan,” the trader grumbled. 


84 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

we could hide somewhere until night-time, I 
could creep out, knife a boatman in the back and 
get his sampan/’ 

‘^That is murder!” protested the priest, for¬ 
biddingly. 

‘Tt’s war!” snapped Dorrocks. ‘^We can’t 
split hairs over morals when our lives are at 
stake. But I’m not fit for a hand-to-hand tussle 
with mv shoulder in this state, and it’s no use 
telling you to do the job.” 

^‘What would you do if you were alone?” 

‘ ^ And unwounded ? I’d swim. I can swim like 
a fish. I’d black my face with grease and candle- 
soot—which doesn’t wash otf in the water—and 
I’d swim down river during the dark hours, lying 
hid by day. I made fifty miles, like that, on the 
Pie’ho River, during the Opium War. Can you 
swim. Padre?” 

”A little. Not enough to swim all the night 
long. I am afraid that an hour or so would be 
my limit. ’ ’ 

‘^You can float, though?” 

^‘Oh, yes, as long as you like.” 

‘‘Chin-sa swims, too, I know. She’s a boat¬ 
man’s daughter and she was a fisherman’s wife. 
She’s done a lot of heavy work on the river-side 


THE OPIUM WAR 85 

and the sea-shore, hauling nets and the like. 
We’ll see what we can do.’’ 

The two men commenced to make arrange¬ 
ments. Dorrocks made up a number of small 
packets of opium in oiled silk and attached them 
about his body, because, as he said, it was better 
currency than money. Each man also carried 
a small bundle of food, attached to a piece of 
wood for a float. Father Marsotte bound up Dor- 
ricks ’ wound anew, noting with satisfaction that 
the hurt was not as deep as it had seemed at first. 

When all the preparations were complete, 
Chin-sa was awakened and, after a hasty meal, 
Dorrocks explained the situation to her. 

^^How should my lord’s slave know better!” 
she exclaimed, when the trader took her to task 
for attempting suicide and thus bringing their 
enemies down on them. was told that my lord 
was seen to fall dead in the fire. Was it for me to 
live, after that? And to die by one’s own hand is 
an honorable death!” 

‘‘Did you tell any of your friends to come and 
fetch your body?” 

“Surely! Did not my lord promise in his will 
a rose-granite tomb and the two stone lanterns?” 

“I thought so!” ejaculated Dorrocks. He 


86 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


added, in English, ^‘whenever you do something 
decent for these people, you get in wrong 

The priest looked at him reproachfully, but 
made no comment. 

‘^Now, Chin-sa,” the trader continued, ‘^be¬ 
cause of your coming, well have to swim for our 
lives.’’ 

‘‘But my lord is hurt,” she replied, noticing for 
the first time the bandaged shoulder. 

“I’ll manage to swim, somehow!” 

The woman pondered a moment. 

“ ‘The clouds find a way across every sky,’ ” 
said she, quoting a Chinese proverb. “Has my 
lord much opium here?” 

“To the value of twenty-five thousand Haikwan 
taels, (about $18,500).” 

“It is much more than enough. My first hus¬ 
band’s brother’s son has a sailing sampan which 
he might be persuaded to sell.” 

“To a ‘foreign devil’!” 

“Its value is not one-third the worth of the 
opium here. For so big a profit, who would not 
sell, my lord!” 

“H’m, there’s something in that! But where 
is this sampan, Chin-sa!” 

“Far down the river. Mv lord’s words are 

«/ 


THE OPIUM WAR 87 

wise words. You shall swim down in the dark. 
My feet are quicker on earth than in the water 
and no one will suspect me. I will see my first 
husband’s brother’s son. Some night, after you 
have escaped and are far away he can come to 
this place and take all the opium that is hidden 
here. It will make him rich.” 

‘‘But your friends may find the opium first.” 

“The humble thoughts of the slave of my lord 
have looked upon that danger. Is it permitted 
to speak?” 

“It is permitted.” 

“If the stones of the wall be put hack, my lord, 
those who come to seek my body will find nothing, 
and will know nothing. They will think I have 
been afraid. They do not know the secret of the 
door, my lord. I only told them ‘a cave in Ying 
Hsiu’s garden.’ ” 

“Be it so. The words are well considered, 
Chin-sa. It is better to start at once, for the 
moon is young and the night will be dark early. 

“Turn a plate upside down over the candle, 
Padre, and let the soot collect. Mix it well with 
fish-fat and smear it thickly on your cheeks. Re¬ 
member, it’s only the gleam of white that be¬ 
trays.” 


88 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


Black of face, hands, and feet, no stranger-look¬ 
ing couple than Dorrocks and Father Marsotte 
had ever stolen stealthily through Ying Hsiu’s 
garden. Under her husband ^s direction Chin-sa 
had replaced the stones of the masonry so that 
not a sign of disturbance appeared from without. 

The two men slipped silently to the river bank 
and merged with the shadows. 

‘‘At the second sun-down, my lord, I will come 
to the Island of the Yellow Lizard as arranged,^’ 
whispered Chin-sa. 

“Be prudent!^’ cautioned Dorrocks, as he let 
himself do^vn into the water and floated out of 
hearing. 

The moon had set and it was black night on the 
river. Because of the trader ^s wound and Father 
Marsotte ^s inexperience, little swimming was at¬ 
tempted. The current of the river ran nearly two 
miles an hour, however, and, before davm, the 
fugitives were twelve miles below Ning-po. 

Father Marsotte was sodden and chilled when 
Dorrocks pulled him out of the water, but the 
trader—who had not moved his injured shoulder 
once during all the time—was in noMse exhausted 
by the trip. 


THE OPIUM WAR 


89 

That day they rested under an overturned boat, 
the gaping seams of which told that it had not 
been used for a long time, and now was far 
too unseaworthy to be launched. 

Next night, as soon as the moon set, they set¬ 
off again, Dorrocks having found some cork-like 
pieces of wood used by fishermen for their floats 
to aid Father Marsotte, who had rallied but slowly 
from the previous night’s exertions. Shortly 
after midnight, a long low shoal appeared before 
them. 

^‘Here we are!” said the trader, in a cheery 
whisper. 

‘^But there is no concealment!” protested the 
other, as he dragged himself up on the muddy 
bank of the island. We shall be seen at the first 
streak of dawn.” 

Dorrocks chuckled. 

‘‘This is one of my opium lays,” he said. 
“You’ll see!” 

Towards the middle of this long narrow shoal, 
which was not more than twenty yards across at 
its greatest width, and was but little higher than 
awash at the time of the spring floods, he rolled 
aside a piece of conglomerate or pudding stone, 


90 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

and revealed a staircase, which he descended, 
helping his companion down. 

Welcome to another smuggler’s den. Padre! 
No one will look for us, here. Even Ying Hsiu 
doesn’t know this place. Here, take a drop of 
this to warm you, and go to sleep. You need it. 
Chin-sa won’t be here before sun-down.” 

‘^And if she does not come?” It was Father 
Marsotte’s turn to be pessimistic, for the two 
nights in the water had lowered his vitality. 

‘‘Then we’ll get along without her!” returned 
the trader, whose energy increased as his com¬ 
rade’s diminished. “But she’ll come. You’ll 
see!” 

Nor was his prophecy wrong. Soon after sun¬ 
down, and just as it became dark upon the river, 
Chin-sa swam softly up to the shore of the island. 
The two men were on the beach, watching for her, 
but they did not see her until she was almost upon 
them. 

“What have you accomplished?” queried Dor- 
rocks, after the ceremonious salutations had been 
exchanged. 

‘ ‘ The son of the brother of my first husband is 
not brave, my lord,” replied Chin-sa scornfully. 
“He is afraid to do anything, himself. He says 


THE OPIUM WAR 


91 


that if you should be caught in his sampan, he 
would have his hands and feet cut off. He does 
not want that. ’ ’ 

^ Tt is to be expected of him. But what will he 
do?^^ 

^‘He will take the opium. ^ ’ 

‘^Ah! He is brave enough for that! But what 
will he do in return!’’ 

‘^Himself, he will do nothing, my lord. He has 
gone to Fow-kin, where he will visit his mother- 
in-law and his friends, for he used to live there, 
once. He will be seen in Fow-kin by many peo¬ 
ple to-day, and he will sleep there. To-morrow 
morning he mil make sure that many more peo¬ 
ple see him, whose voices will testify that he can¬ 
not have been here to-night. If the sampan 
disappears, he can assert that it was stolen, and 
prove that he had nothing to do with your es¬ 
cape.” 

do not blame him for avoiding risk. Where 
is the boat!” 

‘Tt is up the river. If my lord wills, I can 
bring it down, at moon-set. I have placed food 
therein, and all things needful.” 

^‘How far up the river!” 

‘‘Two hours by water and half an hour by land. 


92 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

As my lord knows, the river bends, here.^’ 

‘T know. Well, that seems about the only 
thing to do, don’t you think. Padre?” 

‘Tt seems to me that the farther away from 
Ning-po, the better.” 

^‘The words of Chin-sa are worthy of golden 
praise,” approved Dorrocks, turning to his wife. 
‘‘Bring the boat here by moon-set. Let not time 
slip idly!” 

“I go now, my lord!” 

Without farther comment she bowed, and 
slipped into the water. 

‘Tt’s a good thing to have the boat, no doubt,” 
Father Marsotte remarked, when the woman’s 
head passed out of sight, “but where shall we go 
with it ? ” 

The trader shrugged his shoulders. 

“If the rumors I heard about Tien-tsin are 
true, I should think the whole coast of China is 
up in arms against foreigners, and we’re apt to 
be scragged anywhere we land.” 

“Then what do you propose? One cannot 
travel very far in an open boat!” 

“It all depends on the boat. Some sailing sam¬ 
pans are extraordinarily seaworthy. To tell the 
truth, though, I shouldn’t much like to try navi- 


THE OPIUM WAR 


93 

gating the Pacific in an open boat, not during this 
month of southeasterly gales, anyway. 

‘T’d rather go along the coast to Kiung»chow 
or Hai-nan and then cut across for the Philip¬ 
pines. Manila isn’t more than five hundred miles 
from there. But it’s the wrong time of year. The 
wind would be against us, and no sampan can lie 
close enough to the wind for proper tacking. I 
know, because I’ve tried beating against a head 
wind with a sampan. 

‘‘No, we’d better strike north, for Japan. 
That country’s safe, for Americans, at least, ever 
since Commodore Perry, and our Consul-Gen'eral, 
Townsend Harris, opened eJapan to the world and 
began to make it a modern nation.” 

“Japan may be safe,” came the protest, “but 
surely it is a long way off?” 

“It’s far enough, for sure. Padre, but threat¬ 
ened men haven’t much choice! ’ ’ 

“Can you make a course, there?” 

“I hold a Master’s Certificate,” replied the 
trader, “and there was a time I knew the China 
Seas as well as any man afloat. But that’s a 
good while ago.” 

This was evidently the chance to find out Dor- 
rocks ’ history and the priest seized it. 


94 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

‘T remember, now,’’ he said, ^‘you mentioned 
that the first American ship in a Chinese harbor 
was captained by a relative of yours. It must 
have been an adventurous voyage.” 

‘Tt was! The Empress of China had quite a 
history. Captain John Green, my father’s cousin 
was in command, on this first Chinese trip. He 
didn’t come unprotected, though. He was picked 
up by two French ships-of-war who acted as his 
convoy, for France was our ally, then. That was 
in 1784 and it was an important voyage, in lots of 
ways. Since we’ve got nothing to do here, while 
waiting for Chin-sa, I’ll tell you about it. 

^^The supercargo was Major Samuel Shaw, and 
he was surprised at the decent treatment received. 
On getting back to America, he wrote a long letter 
to the Secretary of State pointing out that the 
Stars and Stripes had received a respect not paid 
to any other flag, because the Chinese archives 
showed no record of hostile action from ‘Ameri¬ 
can Barbarians.’ He urged that a Consul should 
be appointed to look after American interests, 
and was selected for the post. He arrived in 
Canton in 1786 and thus was the first American 
consular officer in the Orient. 

“He soon had plenty to do. By 1789 there 


THE OPIUM WAR 


95 


were fifteen American ships a year in the harbor 
of Canton, and thirty-four vessels reached there 
in the year of 1801. When I first went to sea, 
there was a ship a week from New England, and 
the Chinese trade from Massachusetts alone ran 
to over five million dollars a year. 

‘Tn my time, most of the trading was a mixture 
of sealing and tea-running. We went heavily 
armed, of course, because the seas were full of 
pirates in those times, and, sometimes, ships 
which flew the flag of a civilized nation did a little 
privateering on their own. I sailed on the Perse¬ 
verance, for my first trip, and she mounted twelve 
six-pounders. We had to use them, more than 
once. I dl spin you some true pirate yarns. 
Padre, one of these days!^’ 

‘T shall not forget to remind you! But why 
sealing? Was there so much demand for seal¬ 
skins in China, then?^’ 

‘^Enormous. There always is. As you know, 
a good many Chinese houses are lightly built, and 
wood is too scarce to be used freely for fuel. 
Winters in the northern provinces, I’m told, are 
terribly cold, just like Siberia. Furs are about 
the only way of keeping warm indoors as well as 
out. 


96 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

‘‘Bussia ought to have had the cream of the 
fur trade, of course, because she had a monopoly 
of the fur seal and the sea otter in the North Pa¬ 
cific, but, by a silly treaty arrangement, the Chi¬ 
nese wouldn’t let a Bussian vessel touch at any of 
their ports, not even at Canton, which was open 
to all the other powers. 

‘^The Bussian treaty, which had been made 
nearly a century before, had been for overland 
trade, alone, and the Chinese wouldn’t alter it. 
As a result, all the furs taken in the North Pacific 
—even if secured right otf the coasts of China— 
had to be taken to a Siberian port, shipped thou¬ 
sands of miles inland on the backs of mules or 
porters, then taken down to the frontier at 
Kiakh-ta, and, after that, toted back again across 
the whole of China. It was really easier for us, 
although New England is at the opposite side of 
the world. Fur seals were plentiful in the South 
Pacific, and we hunted them hard. When we 
had a full cargo of raw skins, we set sail for 
Canton. 

‘Tn those days. Padre, trading with Canton 
was a roundabout affair, even worse than com¬ 
merce in Ning-po is to-day. According to Chi¬ 
nese law, every foreign ship had to call first at 



THE OPIUM WAR 


97 


Macao, the Portuguese establishment at the 
mouth of the river. The settlement was on a 
peninsula, across the neck of which was a high 
wall, heavily guarded. No foreigner was allowed 
to go beyond that wall. An annual tribute was 
paid to the Chinese government, and every vessel 
which passed up the river had to get a Chinese 
permit and take a Chinese pilot. 

^ ^ Even so, we weren ^t allowed to go all the way 
up to Canton. We had to moor at Wham-poa, 
fourteen miles below. There, each ship had to 
engage a fiador, a rich Chinese merchant who be¬ 
came personal surety for our payment of port 
dues and custom duties; a lingivistor, to arrange 
the necessary bribery and to sell the cargo in Can- 

V 

ton, for no foreigner was allowed to enter the 
walls; and a comprador, who sold at his own price 
the provisions and supplies. 

After all that, I am surprised that there was 
any profit left 

‘‘You wouldn’t think so. Padre, but the earn¬ 
ings were immense. It was a poor voyage which 
didn’t bring a return of four hundred per cent on 
the investment. Fur seals were plentiful, prices 
were high, and a returning ship would have her 
hold stuffed with cases of tea, rich silks, and fine 


98 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

porcelain. Such articles fetched fancy prices in 
America. 

“Most early New England fortunes were made 
in the China trade, and it was reckoned that ten 
successful trips sufficed to make any man rich. 
My brother, who sailed his own ship out of Glou¬ 
cester, made a big pile of money. He brought 
back a Manchu wife, once, whose gems alone were 
worth a fortune. That marriage started him on 
the down-grade, just the same. But I’ll spin you 
that yarn another time. 

“We had a good deal of trouble in those days 
over the ‘press-gang’ habit of the British Navy. 
They used to search ships of other nations, where- 
ever they found them, and, if they found any Eng¬ 
lish sailors on board, they kidnapped them and 
forced them to serve on British ships-of-war. 
There was a lot of that sort of thing going on at 
Macao and Wham-poa, and our Consul and the 
British consul nearly came to blows over it. The 
‘press-gang’ of H. M. S. Boris, especially, was so 
violent that even the Chinese interfered. They 
cancelled all trade contracts vdth the British 
merchants and forced the Boris to leave Chinese 
waters. 

“It was that same sort of thing, you know, 


THE OPIUM WAR 


99 


Padre, which brought on the War of 1812. Yon 
see, by English law, every man born in England 
could be forced to serve in the British Navy if he 
was found sailing under a foreign flag; according 
to American law, every man who naturalized as a 
citizen, no matter where he was bom, was freed 
from his obligations to his Mother Country. It 
wasn’t always easy to tell if an English sailor 
had naturalized, but our consul claimed that 
American vessels were not subject to the Law of 
Search. 

‘‘After the war—a small affair, but in which 
the United States got the best of it—^American 
trade with China was resumed. Tilings got 
gradually better, but there was always trouble. 
For example, look at the Chinese ‘Rules for Deal¬ 
ing with Barbarians (foreigners)M Here were 
some of the regulations given out to the fiadors 
and the hong merchants: 

“ ‘The Barbarians are like beasts, and not to 
be ruled on the same principles as subjects of the 
Emperor. 

“ ‘Were any one to attempt the control of them 
by the great maxims of reason enunciated by the 
Five Sages, it would provoke confusion and dis¬ 
order. 


loo WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


^The Sons of Heaven have ever understood 
this need, wherefore, accordingly. Barbarians 
must be ruled by the make-humble decrees. 

^Scrupulous honesty and exactness must be 
observed in dealings with Barbarians, but they 
must feel how generous is the Son of Heaven to 
allow them to come to his shores, and presents of 
courtesy (bribes) may be accepted.’ ” 

‘‘Well, the hong merchants were honest enough, 
weren’t they?” queried Father Marsotte. 

“Oh, absolutely! What was more, w^e Ameri¬ 
cans had smaller bribes to pay than had the 
Portuguese, Dutch, or English. We were called 
‘friendly Barbarians,’ they, ‘ill-mannered Bar¬ 
barians.’ That was one reason why we got the 
cream of the trade. Of course, the Terranova af¬ 
fair hurt us a bit. ’ ’ 

“What was that?” 

“A trifle, but it made a lot of trouble. An 
Italian sailor who was one of the crew of an 
American vessel dropped or threw a heavy jug 
overboard. It fell on the head of a Chinese 
woman in a small boat, alongside, and killed her. 

“The Chinese authorities demanded the sail¬ 
or’s surrender for trial. The captain refused, 
saying that he was not an American. The Chi- 


THE OPIUM WAR loi 

nese quoted the case of the Boris, when an Ameri¬ 
can consul had said that every man on board a 
ship flying the Stars and Stripes was to be re¬ 
garded as an American. What was true nine 
years before, said they, was true still. The Ter- 
ranova was surrounded by war junks, boarded, 
and the sailor captured. He was duly tried by 
the Chinese, executed by strangling and his body 
returned to the ship. 

^^The American consul realized that if he pro¬ 
tested farther, it would seem to the Chinese that 
the United States protected criminals, and, for 
the sake of trade, the matter was dropped. It 
hurt our prestige, just the same. 

Just ten years later, in 1831, every member of 
the crew of the Friendship, of Salem, Mass., was 
murdered in Sumatra, and it was claimed that 
this was done by Chinese living on that island. 
A score of vessels had suffered from Chinese pi¬ 
rates, before, and the United States government 
decided to send Edmund Roberts in the naval 
ship Peacock as a special envoy to China, Siam, 
and Muscat, to arrange commercial treaties with 
the potentates of the Eastern Seas. 

‘^As soon as the Peacock arrived off Canton, 
the same old Chinese exclusion policy cropped 


102 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


up. The imperial commissioner promptly issued 
an edict, saying: 

^Having ascertained that the said cruiser is 
not a merchant-ship, nor a convoy, and that she 
has on board an unusual number of seamen, 
cannon, and weapons, she is not allowed, under 
any pretext, to anchor and create disturbances. 
Wherefore:—Let her be driven away! . . . Let 
the day fixed for her departure be recorded. 
Haste! Haste! A special order. ’ 

^Tt was rather absurd, of course, for the Pea¬ 
cock could have blown the forts out of the water, 
and then could have sailed up to Canton in tlie 
teeth of the whole Chinese Navy. But that 
wouldn’t have helped to make a peaceful treaty!” 

‘‘But did not Roberts go on to Siam?” 

“Sure, he did! He stopped at Cochin-China, 
first, where the Emperor refused to treat with any 
one of such small importance as the President of 
the United States, ‘a person chosen by the people, 
who did not even have the small title of king,’ 
unless he did so ‘in a manner properly respect¬ 
ful.’ On that, Roberts sailed away. But he 
made very favorable treaties with the Chan of 
Siam and the Sultan of Muscat, and then returned 
to try his luck at Canton once more. 


THE OPIUM WAR 


103 


“It was no go. The Peacock was clearly a war 
vessel, and the governor of Canton would con¬ 
sider Americans as traders, only; he would not 
even permit a letter to be sent him, ^barbarian 
communications’ must be concerning trade, only, 
and must be sent to the hong merchants. So, 
again, Roberts was driven away. Worse luck, 
plague had broken out on one of the vessels, and 
the American envoy fell a victim and died at 
Macao, where he was buried. He was the first 
U. S. Diplomat in the Far East, but, though he 
did corking good work at Siam and Muscat, he 
could not open the door of China.’’ 

“England tried, too, about that time, did she 
not I ” 

“You mean when Napier’s commission went 
there? She sure did. I knew a good deal about 
that visit, because I happened to sail into Canton 
just a week after the Englishman had left, and 
the hong merchants were so triumphant that 
they couldn’t help talking about it. 

“Let’s see, that must have been in 1834. The 
British East India Company had just given up 
the Canton trade, and the English King—William 
IV, I think it was—sent Lord Napier at the head 
of a commission to regulate the trade to and 


104 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

from the dominions of the Emperor of China. 

‘Tt was a cheeky sort of order, as though it 
were England’s business to regulate everything. 
And Napier was bossy all through. He didn’t 
even stop at Macao, as the laws of China required, 
but went slap up to Canton. Of course, he was 
in the wrong, there. The hong merchants came 
aboard at once, and told him that all communica¬ 
tions must be made through them. Napier or¬ 
dered them ashore, as if they had been school¬ 
boys, and said he would deal only with the gov¬ 
ernor. 

‘^He made the next move himself. He sent a 
letter to the governor by the hands of one of his 
statf, accompanied by several aides. But when 
this party came to the walls of the city, the gates 
were closed. Some Chinese officers, at the head 
of a handful of troops, barred the way. 

'‘The English ordered the gates of the city 
opened, but this 'Barbarian impertinence^ was re¬ 
ceived only with a grin. The English then ten¬ 
dered the letter to the Chinese officers, and their 
commander sent an interpreter forward. The 
latter, while refusing to touch the document, read 
the superscription and reported the same to his 
chief. 


I 


THE OPIUM WAR 105 

‘immediately, with an air of contempt, the 
Chinese turned their backs upon the deputation, 
reentered the city and slammed the gates shut in 
the face of the English envoy. 

“To aggravate this insult, the governor then 
issued a decree to the hong merchants bidding 
them inform ‘the Barbarian ey^e^ (superinten¬ 
dent) that he had disregarded the laws of China 
in not applying for a permit at Macao, in ‘inso¬ 
lently sailing’ up the river, in presuming to sup¬ 
pose that he could address a high Chinese official 
directly, and ‘in not lowly and respectfully using 
the form pm/ which, as you know. Padre, means 
a petition from a servant or an inferior. 

“The hong merchants showed me the decree, 
when I dropped anchor in Wham-poa, a week 
later, and, as I remember, it ended something like 
this: 

“ ‘ To sum up, every nation has its laws. Even 
Barbarians declare that they have their laws. 
How much more the Celestial Empire! Flaming 
bright are its laws, terrible like thunderbolts. 
Under the whole heaven, none dares to disobey 
them. Under its shelter are the four seas. Sub¬ 
ject to its nursing care are the ten thousand king¬ 
doms. The Barbarian ey'ey having come over a 


io6 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


sea of many myriads of miles to oversee affairs, 
must surely be a man acquainted with the princi¬ 
ples of dignity and decorum.’ 

‘^One row led to another. Napier arrogantly 
insisted that trade with England must be a matter 
so important to China that the Emperor, himself, 
should deal with it. The governor, horrified by 
this ‘unparalleled insolence,’ replied loftily: 

“ ‘Barbarians coming to or leaving Canton 
liave no public business beyond their trade. . . . 
As for the commissioned officers of the Celestial 
Empire, they are never even aware of the trhdal 
affairs of trade. ... As for the some hundreds 
of thousands of taels which may come in the form 
of duties, yearly, from the Barbarians, they weigh 
not with the Celestial Empire to the extent of a 
hair or the dovm of a feather. The possession or 
absence of them is not worthy even of a single 
careful thought!’ 

“Napier lost his temper at this. He issued 
and distributed a letter in Chinese, which the Can¬ 
tonese told me was definitely insulting to their 
Emperor, since it declared the English monarch 
at least his equal and even his superior. 

“All trade vdth British merchants was stopped. 
The British ‘factory’ was threatened with as- 


THE OPIUM WAR 


107 

sault. The warships moved up the river to de¬ 
fend it, and shots were exchanged. 

‘‘But Napier’s conduct had enraged all China. 
War-junks came in bunches, troops poured in 
from every side. The Englishman was threat¬ 
ened at every point and had to crawl. His silly 
pride had endangered even the few rights which 
British merchants possessed, and he was forced to 
agree to the withdrawal of his ships. From Can¬ 
ton he retreated to Macao, where he died a few 
days later from an illness brought on by rage and 
humiliation. ’ ’ 

“It is rather surprising that such an atfair did 
not lead to war,” commented the priest, thought¬ 
fully. 

“We thought it would. The American consul 
at Macao urged Washington to send a naval force 
to be ready to cooperate with England in order 
to secure equal trade privileges, which, otherwise, 
Great Britain would probably grab for herself, 
alone. England was not ready yet, though, and 
disapproved Napier’s wild demands for a puni¬ 
tive expedition.” 

“And yet the Opium War came only four years 
afterwards!” 

“Sure, but the British were afraid of losing the 


io8 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


opium trade, then. The profits on that were so 
enormous that they thought even a war was justi¬ 
fied.^^ 

‘Wou are a little hard on the British, it seems 
to me,^’ commented Father Marsotte. 

Dorrocks snorted. 

‘T was in the Opium War myself, and I Ve been 
an opium smuggler ever since; don’t you suppose 
I know something about it? You can argue and 
talk morals and civilization all you like, but any 
one who knows anything about it isn’t going to 
deny that China has always done her hardest to 
keep opium out of the country, and England has 
always done her hardest to drive it in. We’ve 
sided with China, on that question, always. 

‘^But surely the Chinese used opium before the 
British came!” 

‘‘Not as a drug habit, they didn’t! The Arabs 
were the first to bring opium to China, that’s true 
enough, but only as medicine. Even as late as 
1773, when Portugal controlled the whole China 
trade, the total importation of opium wasn’t ever 
more than 200 chests annually, and that’s not 
much for the whole Chinese people. Three years 
later, under English control, 1,000 chests were 







■ / •« 

« sfl 

■r ?' mm^ 



W* 



Opifm-Smokers. 


From China," hy Fohert K. Douylas. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 









THE OPIUM WAR 


109 

imported, and, by 1790, the imports had jumped 
up to 4,000 chests. 

‘‘By that time, opium-smoking as well as 
opium-eating had been taught to the Chinese and 
the habit was getting a real hold on the country.’’ 

“You really do not mean to imply that the Eng¬ 
lish actually taught opium-smoking to the Chi¬ 
nese?” 

“All the early ‘dens’ were run by ‘dope-han¬ 
dlers ’ from India, who had come to China on Eng¬ 
lish ships and were financed and protected by the 
East India Company,” Dorrocks replied. 

“And you say the Chinese tried to stop it?” 

“Tooth and nail! As early as 1794 the gov¬ 
ernor of Canton memorialized the Emperor that 
‘through the vices of Barbarians, the vile dirt of 
foreign countries, bringing waste and destruc¬ 
tion, is being exchanged for the commodities and 
money of the Empire, and that moral ruin, such 
as the Five Sages had never even contemplated, 
is threatening the character and industry of the 
province. ’ I can remember even the Chinese 
wording of that, for I’ve studied the question 
pretty closely. I’ve had to! 

“In 1796 the Emperor prohibited the importa- 


no WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


tion of opium in any form, even for medicine, 
and, througli the governor of Canton, the Court 
of Pekin decreed: 

‘The Celestial Empire does not concern itself 
with the evil habits of Barbarians, but that opium 
should flow into this country so that vagabonds 
may clandestinely purchase and eat it, thereby 
becoming sunk continually in a most stupid and be¬ 
sotted state which cuts down the powers of na¬ 
ture and destroys life, is an injury to the minds 
and manners of men, of the greatest magnitude. 
Therefore, let all be well advised and informed 
that the sale or the possession of opium is most 
rigorously prohibited by law.’ ” 

‘T had not an idea that any of the Emperors 
had acted so promptly! ’ ’ 

“All of them did. It wasn’t much use, though. 
Every chest of opium that came in, whether 
smuggled or not, bore the stamp of the East India 
Company, and the organization was so complete 
that it was the very deuce to know where to tackle 
it. The whole traffic, from the planting of the 
poppy-fields to the manufacture and sale of the 
finished drug was a government-grant monopoly. 

“Of course, after the Emperor’s prohibition, 
the stuff couldn’t come into Canton openly, but 


THE OPIUM WAR 


111 

the British worked a regular smuggling system 
all along the Chinese coast and even kept secret 
agents for the bribery of mandarins in shore dis¬ 
tricts. I used to get some of the supplies through 
them, later. From Hai-nan to Tien-tsin there 
was a regular smugglers’ web. It was a good 
thing for our American fur trade, in a way, be¬ 
cause most British ships were engaged in the 
opium trade, which brought in a lot more coin. 

^‘Well, as I was saying, I was in Canton right 
after Napier’s visit and sailed back for Boston 
some few days later. That was my second trip 
as captain, and as I made the voyage in 147 days, 
I was mighty proud, I can tell you! My owners 
were well pleased and put me in charge of a new 
ship, the Frugal Venture. 

^‘All went well, to start oft with. We made 
good time to the South Seas and I got my furs 
on board without any trouble—except one small 
brush with a pirate junk, about which I’ll tell you 
some time. Just after crossing the line, though, 
I ran into bad weather. We were beating up the 
China Sea on a lee shore, the tail of a typhoon 
whipping up an ugly swell, when, just before 
dark, we struck an uncharted reef, or, at least, a 
reef which wasn’t marked on the chart I had. 


112 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


‘‘There was no time for delay. With the swell 
that was running, the poor Frugal Venture 
pounded on that reef mercilessly. I just had time 
to put the boats out, before the ship broke her 
back, and when, next morning, I got the boats to¬ 
gether and called the roll, five men—all Ameri¬ 
cans—were missing. 

“We were right in the sailing track for Canton, 
so, luckily for every one but me, we hadn’t been 
in the boats more than a few hours when the 
Forethought overhauled us. She was a New 
England clipper, too, hailing from the same port 
as the Frugal Venture and belonging to the same 
company. What was bad for me, one of the di¬ 
rectors of the company was aboard, acting as 
supercargo. 

“Well, we had words. I told him the sub¬ 
merged reef wasn’t marked on my chart. He de¬ 
clared that all the ships of the company were 
furnished with the same kind of charts, and, sure 
enough, pointed out the reef on the Forethought's 
chart. But it wasn’t the same chart as the one 
I’d had, and when he insisted, I called him a liar. 
He threatened to break me with the company 
when he got back to Boston and swore that he’d 
have my Master’s Certificate cancelled for ‘con- 


THE OPIUM WAR 


113 

tributory negligence/ He could have done it, 
too! 

^‘When the Forethought dropped anchor oft 
Macao, a few days later, I was in a tight box. I 
had no ship. I had no money, for there had been 
no chance to get below, even for a minute, the 
night of the wreck. I had my company director 
sore against me, and the way he told the story of 
the loss of the Frugal Venture to the American 
consul wasn’t favorable to me—to put it mildly! 

“The only way I could get back to the States 
was as a passenger, for the Forethought had a 
full complement of officers. You can bet I didn’t 
want to go back in her! Three or four months 
with that sour-faced director would be too much 
for me. I’d have thrown him overboard or 
jumped in the sea myself! ’ ’ 

“What did you do, then?” his companion 
queried. 

“I quit the sea! There was an American in 
Macao, Talbot, his name was, who had a share 
in several of the shady deals which were being 
worked by Innes, one of the British ‘factory’ 
merchants. It was smuggling, of course, and 
most of it was opium. 

“Talbot, hearing that I was down on my luck. 



JI4 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


offered me a job. He meant me well, but natur¬ 
ally he wanted me to do the dirty work, or, rather, 
the dangerous work. It was good and danger¬ 
ous, too, about that time, for there was a new 
governor of Canton who wasn’t in the pay of the 
British and he was as suspicious an old screw of 
a mandarin as ever I saw. 

^^The English thought they had him bluffed, 
but the wily old Heathen Chinee pulled the wool 
over their eyes, instead. One day, when they 
were expecting it least, Innes and Talbot got 
caught with the goods, and were arrested by the 
Chinese. There was a sort of trial and both men 
were ordered to be expelled. The consuls inter¬ 
fered and a second trial was held. Innes was 
sure enough guilty, but Talbot managed to get 
off. They couldn’t prove it on him, because all 
the crooked work had been done by me.” 

^‘How did you escape, then?” 

‘‘The Chinese were too busy trying to get the 
bigger fish. But when Talbot and Innes didn’t 
go at once, they got sore and strangled a Chi¬ 
nese opium-smuggler on the steps of the English 
consulate, as a protest against the English delay 
in expelling Innes. This execution within the 
foreign compound, was regarded by all the con- 


THE OPIUM WAR 


115 

suls as so contrary to diplomatic usage that every 
one of them hauled do^vn his country's flag and 
trade was entirely suspended. 

‘‘This sort of thing, which was intended to im¬ 
press the Chinese with the haughtiness of the 
Barbarians, had exactly the opposite effect. Al¬ 
though the hong merchants were making money 
and a great many mandarins were getting rich 
from bribes, China and the Chinese court re¬ 
garded European trade as a mere flea-bite. When 
the consuls took this action, however, the gov¬ 
ernor of Canton—in fear for his head—went to 
Pekin and explained. A secret investigation was ‘ 
made, on the orders of the Emperor, and it was 
found that opium smuggling was no longer con¬ 
fined to the coasts, but that the drug was actually 
being shipped weekly into the foreign ‘factories' 
with the officials well paid to wink at it. 

“Then a most amazing thing happened. The 
Emperor, himself, interfered. He sent for Lin, 
his most trusted viceroy, and, so I heard, the Son 
of Heaven actually wept over the degradation 
that was coming over his people from opium, de¬ 
claring that ‘the shame is such that I cannot die 
and go to the shades of my imperial father and 
ancestors until these direful evils are removed.' 



ii6 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


‘Wiceroy Lin reached Canton a week or two 
afterwards and wasted neither time nor words. 
His decrees were short and sharp enough. ’ He 
declared that the Emperor was extremely angry, 
ordered the death penalty for any person found 
smuggling opium, and commanded that every 
ounce of opium be delivered up instantly, without 
compensation.^’ 

“That was sweeping,” agreed Father Mar- 
sotte, “but, after all, it seems to me that the Chi¬ 
nese were in the right to say what they wanted in 
their own country, don’t you think?” 

“I thought so, Padre, but the English didn’t. 
To them, opium was some sort of sacred thing 
that you couldn’t touch. The English merchants 
didn’t exactly refuse the order, but they started 
to argue about it. 

“Old Lin wasn’t built that way. He issued a 
decree which is the record for brevity in Chinese 
affairs. It ran: 

“ ^To the Barbarians: Deliver all opium first; 
then talk. An order! ’ 

“Next day the traders made a protest, long, 
and full of grievances. 

“Lin moved, and moved fast. 

“Before sunset a fleet of war junks arrived and 


THE OPIUM WAR 


117 

made a circle three deep outside the whole for¬ 
eign settlement from the water side. Gangs of 
masons were set at work to wall up every street 
leading out of the settlement on the land side, 
leaving only one narrow exit, and the viceroy sur¬ 
rounded this wall with soldiers, several ranks 
deep. A rat couldn^t have got out. 

‘^Then, ignoring all the European threats, Lin 
was carried into the foreign settlement in his 
sedan chair, under a canopy second only in rich¬ 
ness to that of the Emperor himself, and accom¬ 
panied by the pickeS soldiers of the Empire. 

‘^He seized 22,283 chests of smuggled opium, 
worth over $8,000,000; searched the ofi&ces, houses 
and even the clothing of every foreigner in the 
place, and removed every account book, paper 
and letter that he found. 

‘^All Chinese clerks and servants were bundled 
out of the settlement after having been searched, 
the food supply was cut off, and the foreigners 
were held strict prisoners until Lin was satisfied, 
not only that he had all the opium in his own 
hands, but that he held all the clues to the entire 
smuggling system and the names of all the man¬ 
darins who had accepted bribes from the English 
smugglers. Over 160 high Chinese officials either 


ii8 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


were executed or were given the opportunity to 
commit suicide before the next moon. 

^ ^ The English had stomached all sorts of insults 
to their envoys, but this attack on their pockets 
was more than they could bear. Viceroy Lin, 
who was nothing if not frank, told them they 
could resume legitimate trade, as soon as they 
wished, but—no more opium! 

‘^Against this decision, there was a loud pro¬ 
test. The English didnT want to be confined to 
legitimate trade because opium-smuggling was 
more than five times as profitable. The British 
Consul broke off official relations, notified Eng¬ 
lish residents to leave China, and England pre¬ 
pared for war.’’ 

* ‘ What did you do ? ” 

*^Me? Oh, for the time being, I did a little 
trading for the American merchants, and went 
on smuggling opium for Ying Hsiu, who had been 
too shrewd to get caught by Lin. I had to! That 
was the only job I could get. You see. Padre, I 
was already implicated. Of the opium that Lin 
had seized, 1,540 cases were in the hands of 
Americans. That had been fixed up at the time 
of the seizure so that these cases were listed as 
British property. ’ ’ 


THE OPIUM WAR 


119 

‘‘And were they?’^ 

Dorrocks laughed. 

“I’d brought in a few hundred of the cases, 
myself, and I hadn’t seen a penny of the British 
money! But the Americans had covered up their 
tracks pretty well, though they had to stand their 
losses, as well as the rest. 

“We expected, all of us, that the Chinese would 
sell the confiscated opium and pocket the pro¬ 
ceeds. That might give us some sort of a chance 
to demand an indemnity. On that point, though, 
the Emperor was as hard as chilled steel. He 
refused to allow one ounce of it to be sold. The 
whole 22,283 chests of opium were carried far out 
to sea and sunk, most of the work being done un¬ 
der Lin’s watchful eye. There was no fishing 
that up again! Opium’s heavy, you know.” 

“I admire the Chinese Emperor for his hon¬ 
esty and uprightness!” exclaimed Father Mar- 
sotte. 

“It only made the English angrier, though,” 
came the response, ^^and, just a year later, the 
actual hostilities began. On June 22, 1840, four¬ 
teen men-of-war appeared off Canton Roads. 
One of the American merchants whom I was deal¬ 
ing with, at Macao, and who was in secret part- 


120 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


nership with Ying Hsiu, sent me out with a ship 
to find out just what was going to happen. The 
American Consul wanted to know, too, in order to 
determine where America stood, in the war. 

‘^So I slipped out at night, with no lights show¬ 
ing, and then rounded to in the morning and stood 
in as though coming into port and looking for a 
convoy. I got in touch with some of the officers 
of the British fleet and they told me how matters 
stood. 

‘‘England had been too shrewd to declare it a 
war, because then she’d have to explain to the 
world why she was making war on a peaceful na¬ 
tion which had done no harm except maintain its 
own laws and arrest smugglers, which, as I un¬ 
derstand it, is within the right of every nation.” 

“If it was not war, then, what was it?” the 
priest queried. 

“According to the fleet captains, it was only an 
Admiralty Order demanding ‘satisfaction and 
reparation for the late injurious proceedings of 
the Emperor of China against certain of our sub¬ 
jects and officers.’ ” 

“But it turned into war, surely!” 

“Not officially, but it would have puzzled any 
one to tell where the difference was. Chin-kiang, 


THE OPIUM WAR 


I 2 I 


for example, was taken by assault, sacked and de¬ 
stroyed with horrible slaughter. Over a hundred 
thousand men, women, and children were actually 
slain or burned to death when the city was set on 
fire. So, at least, the Chinese told me, and I 
knew a lot of people in Chin-kiang. The English 
reported that There had been resistance by the 
civil population against the peaceful occupation 
of the town.’ I don’t pretend to be a diplomat, 
but I don’t consider musketry and cutlasses as 
methods of ^peaceful occupation.’ 

^ * I didn’t see any of the actual fighting at Chin- 
kiang, it’s true, for I put in most of the first two 
years of the War at Ning-po. Ying Hsiu, who was 
a sly old bird and who had dealt a good bit with 
foreigners, realized that while England could 
never harm China on land, she could easily ravage 
the coast. He had a lot of property and finan¬ 
cial interests in Ning-po, and he figured that if 
Ning-po could be surrendered to the English 
without bloodshed, there would be less danger of 
looting. So, as I told you, he worked a little deal 
by which the water gate of Ning-po was surren¬ 
dered to the enemy. I had the job of carrying 
that deal through.” 

^^But that was treachery!” 


122 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


^‘For Ying Hsiu, perhaps, but not for me. It 
was all for the best, at that. It saved Ning-po 
from the fate of Chin-kiang, and it kept the 
wealthy classes of Ning-po from having to pay a 
heavy indemnity. Ying Hsiu, wily old fox that 
he was, saw to that. 

Other cities got it heavily. Canton was ran¬ 
somed from assault by the payment of $6,000,000. 
Amoy and Shanghai resisted, and were taken by 
assault, being subjected to looting, after. Fi¬ 
nally, the ancient capital of Nan-king was in¬ 
vested, and it was only saved from assault and 
destruction by the unconditional surrender of the 
Chinese. The English had won the war at every 
point, and taught the Chinese that their weirdly 
costumed soldiers were too poorly armed to be 
able to stand up against modern troops. 

^^Of course, the treaty after the war was all to 
England's favor. Five ports were opened to for¬ 
eign trade, and $30,000,000 was paid as com¬ 
pensation for the seized opium and for a war in¬ 
demnity. ^ ^ 

^^And what was the treatv decision about the 
opium trader^ 

The trader laughed. 


THE OPIUM WAR 


123 

^‘England was too clever to put that in the 
treaty.” 

‘‘But that was what the war w^as about!” 

“Not officially, remember! During the discus¬ 
sions, the English officials dropped a lot of croco¬ 
dile tears, sympathizing with China over the 
prevalence of opium-eating. The Chinese pleni¬ 
potentiary answered that if England was in ear¬ 
nest, she could easily stop the whole traffic by for¬ 
bidding poppy-fields in her dominions. The 
suave English answer to that was that to prohibit 
an agricultural crop was unconstitutional, and 
China was advised to license the traffic and thus 
add to her internal revenue. The Emperor 
wouldn’t hear a word along that line. So, of 
course, after the War, opium-smuggling contin¬ 
ued more vigorously than ever, for the British 
merchants felt they could defy the Chinese with 
all the insolence of victory.” 

“You really blame the War on opium, and on 
opium alone ? ’ ’ 

“I don’t say that. Padre! There was the ques¬ 
tion of treaty ports, there had been insults to the 
British flag, there had been gross attacks upon 
envoys, and strong opposition to missionary ef- 


124 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

fort. Lin’s seizure of opium was admittedly the 
prime cause. Bad as the motive undoubtedly 
was, I really think, myself, that the war did 
some good to China. Certainly it did to the rest 
of the world. 

^‘As a matter of fact, America’s stand was the 
most important diplomatic victory of the whole 
affair. When the War broke out, an American 
squadron was sent to Chinese waters. Commo¬ 
dore Kearny, after having pointed out to the 
governor of Canton that the Americans hadn’t 
done any opium smuggling, and hadn’t taken any 
part in the war, demanded that American mer¬ 
chants should be placed on the same basis as the 
merchants of the most favored nations. This 
was granted. 

“When, later, during the treaty parleys, Eng¬ 
land demanded a monopoly of all Chinese trade, 
a part of the price of her victory, China replied 
that she had already promised a share to Amer¬ 
ica, and, of her own accord, the Celestial Empire 
made the treaty ports free to the ships of all na¬ 
tions. The ‘open door’ was an American policy 
and a triumph of American diplomacy.” 

“And you, after the war, you went on opium¬ 
smuggling, I suppose?” 


THE OPIUM WAR 


125 

‘‘What else was there for me to do? Once, I 
remember— 

He broke off suddenly and rose to his feet. 

“What’s that, Padre? Isn’t it the boat?” 

Father Marsotte also rose and peered at a dark 
shadow on the river, approaching slowly. Then 
the sound of an oar backing water was heard, and 
the boat stopped. 

• A moment later, the Chinese wife’s voice was 
heard. 

“Have I my lord’s permission to speak?” 

“Speak, Chin-sa!” 

“I have fulfilled my lord’s words. Here is the 
sampan, my lord. It is fitted with all things 
needful.” 

“Good; bring it to shore, then.” 

“And I, my lord?” 

“You will come with us,” answered Father 
Marsotte, hastily, speaking in the trader’s stead, 
for he feared that Horrocks would reply with a 
dismissal. 

“It is not fitting,” rejoined the woman. “Let 
my lord hear! If I leave my country, not know¬ 
ing when I may return, where shall I be buried? 
Has not my lord promised me a rose-granite tomb 
with the two stone lanterns? Of what use will 


126 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


be that tomb in a foreign land? My soul would 
never be able to travel so long a road back to the 
place of my ancestors/’ 

The trader answered angrily: 

‘‘Wild words, Chin-sa! Bring the boat here! 
It is an order!” 

“The order shall be obeyed. The current of 
the river will bring the boat. But the slave of 
my lord will stay in her own land. Farewell, my 
lord, trouble for me no longer; with gladness I 
go to my ancestors.” 

There was a slight splash, and on the level yel¬ 
low flood could faintly be seen the head of Chin-sa 
as she swam smftly to the farther shore. Dor- 
rocks shouted after her, ‘but the woman paid no 
heed. 

The boat came drifting slowly down and Dor- 
rocks waded out into the water to stop it. He 
caught the bow of the sampan as it came near 
him, and swung it in to shore. But, as he peered 
in, and his eyes became accustomed to the dim 
light, he uttered a cry of astonishment. 

“What is it?” cried the priest. 

“Duncan!” cried the trader. “My boy Dun¬ 
can is asleep in the bottom of the boat!” 



The Peacock in Contact with Iceberg. 

From ^'Narrative of U. S. Exploring Expedition,'’ hy Charles Wilkes, JJ. S. E. Lea <6 Blanchard. 






The hAllLOO. 

Tea Clipper, 1670. 

From '^The Clipper Ship Era,'* by Arthur H. Clark. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 









CHAPTEE IV 


CHASED BY PIBATES 

Night, black night, with the jagged outlines of 
Japan’s rock-bound shore stabbing up to a leaden- 
indigo sky. A sailing sampan, without any 
lights, hugs the treacherous coast. In the bow 
leans Father Marsotte, praying, for there is need 
for prayer. At the tiller stands Dorrocks, gaunt 
and grim, his eyes deep-sunk from sleeplessness 
and hunger. Only little Duncan, his head pil¬ 
lowed on an old sail, slumbers soundly. 

Forty-two days they had been at sea, landing 
only twice for fresh water, once on Formosa, once 
on an island whose name was unknown to the 
trader. During those six interminable weeks 
Dorrocks had taken only such short snatches of 
sleep as Nature compelled, for there w'as no one 
to relieve him at the tiller save Father Marsotte, 
and the priest was not a sailorman. In those 
perilous waters, nautical skill was necessary, and 
every hour that the trader slept was an hour of 
increased peril. 


127 


128 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


While not actually tempestuous, the weather 
had been unfavorable, the winds chopping to 
every quarter, heightening the dangers from the 
cross-currents of the dreaded China Sea. Only 
Dorrocks’ superb seamanship had pulled the fugi¬ 
tives through. And now, when the very coasts 
of the land they sought loomed before them, an 
even greater menace than the storm-fiend hung 
on their very heels. 

Somewhere, in the dark, not far away, a Japan¬ 
ese junk pursued them. This junk had sighted 
the sampan early the evening before, and had set 
after it immediately. For his part, as soon as 
Dorrocks had caught sight of the mat-sails and 
the build of the junk, he had recognized her as a 
pirate. 

No man knew better than he what fate they 
might expect from Japanese pirates, with whom 
a hatred for foreigners was added to the natural 
ferocity of sea outlaws. True, the fugitives need 
not fear torture—for therein the Japanese pi¬ 
rates differed from the Chinese—but neither 
might they look for mercy. Few were the white 
men who had ever escaped from the hands of the 
Yellow Eovers to tell their tale. 

In spite of his long experience by sea and on 



CHASED BY PIRATES 


129 


land, Dorrocks was at a loss to know what to do, 
in this emergency. With an exhausted priest 
and a tiny child as his only companions, his every 
motion was crippled. The trader ^s fatigue-red¬ 
dened eyes scanned the coast sharply for any 
gleam of light, for, should the worst come to the 
worst, it were better to run the sampan upon the 
shore, to risk the pounding of the surf and to 
throw themselves upon the mercy of even the 
most isolated of Japanese fishermen rather than 
be taken by pirates. 

Alone, or even with only Duncan to think of, 
Dorrocks would not have hesitated. He would 
have tried to beach the boat. Now that his shoul¬ 
der was fully healed, he was a strong swimmer, 
and, if he failed to find either a beaching spot or 
an anchorage, he could easily have swum through 
the surf with the child. But, as the trader had 
found out the night that they had drifted down 
the river. Father Marsotte was a poor swimmer 
and would be helpless in such a sea as was run¬ 
ning. He could not take both the priest and the 
boy through the breakers. 

The coming of daylight was to be regarded with 
equal hope and apprehension. It might show 
them some bay or inlet into which they could run 


130 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

for safety, but it would also reveal them to their 
enemies. 

A faint lightening of the sky to the east her¬ 
alded the dawn. Dorrocks rubbed his salt-en¬ 
crusted eyes and devoured the contour of the 
coast. Eough gray crags rose sheer from the 
sea. The trader edged in closer, for he knew that 
in clitf-like formations of that character small 
bays were often to be found, though generally too 
land-locked and too rugged to be seen from any 
distance otf shore. 

The light intensified rapidly. Casting a look 
of anxiety behind him, Dorrocks saw the mat- 
sails of the junk, astern, and not more than a 
couple of sea-miles away. At almost the same 
moment, in the lemon glow of early dawn, he dis¬ 
cerned a blur on the horizon which denoted the 
sails of a ship. 

The utter silence which had been maintained 
the whole night, for fear of betraying their where¬ 
abouts to the pirate junk, was useless how, for 
they had been seen. 

‘^Are you going to run inshore?queried 
Father Marsotte, for this had been the plan 
agreed upon, the evening before. 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


131 

‘^Not unless I’m forced to, now. I’m going 
to try to reach that whaler.” 

‘‘You mean that ship far away on the horizon? 
How do you know she’s a whaler?” 

“I don’t know, for sure, at this distance. But 
she’s square-rigged, for a certainty, we’re otf the 
track of trading vessels, and too far south for 
fur-seal or sea-otter cruising; what else but whal¬ 
ing would bring a white man’s ship into these 
waters?” 

The argument was unanswerable. 

The light grew brighter, and, as the first rays 
of the sun shot across the sea, Duncan stirred in 
his sleep. Soon he would be awake, and clamor¬ 
ing, boy-like, for his breakfast. 

“How many rice-cakes are there left?” queried 
the trader, in a low tone. 

“Enough for to-day and to-morrow on the fam¬ 
ine rations of the last ten days,” the priest an¬ 
swered. 

“It’s no use saving food now. Give the young¬ 
ster all he wants when he wakes. We’ll eat heart¬ 
ily, too, you and I, Padre. In a few hours we’ll 
either be resting on board that ship there, or 
fighting our way through the surf, or walking the 


132 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

pirate plank to Davy Jones ^ Locker. Whatever 
way things turn, weT do better on a full stom¬ 
ach.’^ 

As his father finished speaking, Duncan came 
up to a sitting position, wide awake on the in¬ 
stant. lie burst into a rapid babble of Chinese. 

‘‘Speak English, Duncan, my boy,’^ said the 
trader, “we’re not in China, now.” 

The lad stumbled over the thwarts and put his 
tiny hand on the tiller. 

“I fordot!” he lisped, looking up, and he added, 
evidently translating mentally from Cantonese, 
“I like, now, breakfast.” 

“Ask ‘Second Father,’ then,” bade Dorrocks, 
passing his hand kindly over the boy’s hair, 

I 

“he’ll give you a big breakfast to-day, all you 
want to eat.” 

“We det home soon. Daddy?” 

“We’ll find another home. Son. Now, go and 
eat all your little tummy will hold!” 

The boy went to Father Marsotte more than 
willingly. During the six weeks’ voyage in the 
small boat, the priest had been more than kind 
to the little lad, who had returned this kindness 
with affection. The term “Second Father,” di- 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


133 

rectly translated from the Chinese, was of the 
boy’s own coining. 

So, while Dorrocks steered toward the ship 
which held their hopes, and watched with dread 
the pirate junk which was gradually creeping up 
upon them. Father Marsotte and the boy chat¬ 
tered freely, munching rice-cakes the while. 

Duncan had learned much in these six weeks. 
The trader, though he had fro\^med once or twice 
when he heard the priest giving some simple re¬ 
ligious instruction to the boy, did not interfere. 
In his direct sailor-fashion of thinking, he con¬ 
sidered that religion was a priest’s duty and he 
held that no man should be attacked for doing 
his duty. Then, too, though far from religious 
himself, he was sensible enough to realize that 
religious principles—no matter from what church 
—could never do any harm. 

Now, as he watched the two together, he smiled 
contentedly, despite his inward worry. Duncan 
looked up and answered his father’s smile. 

‘^Oor b’ekfas’ nex’. Daddy!” he chirped. 

Then, with both chubby hands full of rice- 
cakes, half of them salted and half sweet, he came 
to the stern, his face full of seriousness with the 


134 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

importance of his task. The priest brought the 
wicker-covered jar, for water was a commodity 
far too precious to be entrusted to tiny hands in 
a rocking boat. 

Dorrocks, who was ravenous with hunger and 
parched with thirst, ate and drank with furious 
avidity, keeping his eye on the junk, meanwhile. 

^T^m afraid they are overtaking us,’^ com¬ 
mented Father Marsotte, anxiously. 

“Sure! They’re overhauling us, fast.” 

“And the whaler?” 

“She’s a dozen miles away, still.” 

“Do you still think there is a chance of reach¬ 
ing her?” 

Dorrocks measured the respective distances 
critically with his eye. 

“There’s a chance, of course, or you can bet 
I’d be heading for the shore as hard as I could 
pelt. It all depends on the wind. If the breeze 
freshens, the junk will make quicker time than 
we do, for those mat-sails take more than a cap- 
full of wind to fill them; if it drops a bit, so much 
the better for us, for a sampan will slide through 
the water on a cat’s-paw, where a junk would be 
becalmed.” 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


135 

‘Tt seems to be freshening!’^ came the troubled 
remark. 

‘‘I’m not so sure. This dawn breeze may be 
only the usual sunrise puft we get in these lati¬ 
tudes; if so, it won’t last long. But, at that, we’d 
better make what use of it we can. Go, Padre, 
and take that old sail Duncan was sleeping on. 
Fasten it on the mast, as high up as you can 
reach, and prop up the other end by wedging the 
toughest of the tish-spears against a thwart and 
running one of the prongs through the cringle of 
the sail. No, you take the tiller a second, and let 
me do it.” 

The maneuver, in Dorrocks ’ skillful hands, 
took but a couple of minutes. 

“So,” he said with satisfaction, as he took 
the helm again, “there isn’t much added sail- 
spread there, but it may give us half-a-knot 
more.” 

Evidently the pirates thought so, too. 

Prom the junk there came a flash and a report. 
A solid shot plumped into the water, only a 
couple of hundred yards astern of the sampan. 

“Sounds like a nine-pound carronade!” com¬ 
mented Dorrocks. 


136 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

‘‘Hadn’t we better make for the shore?” que¬ 
ried the priest, nervously. 

“If they don’t aim any straighter than that, 
we’re safe enough.” 

“Do you think the whaler has seen the firing?” 

“You can bet your life she has. What do you 
suppose a lookout’s for?” 

“Then she ought to come to our help, as fast 
as possible.” 

“She’s more likely to keep away, to avoid get¬ 
ting into trouble,” the trader corrected. “No 
one with any sense in his head is hunting for 
trouble on the China Seas. It’s too easy to 
find!” 

“If we only had a flag, or some sort of distress 
signal to show!” 

Dorrocks nodded approvingly. 

“That’s a good idea of yours, Padre. There 
is an old shellback’s trick they may know, per¬ 
haps. Take the helm again, a minute.” 

He slackened his belt, took off his trousers, and, 
shinning up the mast, hung them upside down to 
the end of the slender sloping yard of the sam¬ 
pan. 

“There,” he said, as he took the tiller again. 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


137 

‘‘they ought to see that if theyVe a good glass 
aboard.’’ 

The pirates noticed the signal, surely, for a 
second round shot came plumping into the water, 
nearer the sampan, indeed, but still a long way 
from harm. 

As Dorrocks had hoped, the dawn wind began 
to die down, coming in lesser and lesser puffs. 
Insensibly, the sampan began to increase her dis¬ 
tance from her pursuer. 

Then, suddenly, the trader let out a sonorous 
sea oath. 

“What is it, now?” asked Father Marsotte, 
following his companion’s anxious glance at the 
junk. 

“I’m afraid they’re getting out their sweeps, 
Padre!” 

The fear was justified. A minute or two later, 
sixteen long sea-oars began to strike the water. 

Dorrocks cast a worried look at the whaler, 
still several miles away, and then at the shore. 

“I’m not so sure whether we can make it, with 
that,” said he. “Those sweeps’ll make that old 
junk just travel!” 

“Put your trust in—” 


138 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

rather put it in a good six-pounder, right 
now,’^ retorted the trader, who was in no mood 
for sermons. I could put a shot into that 

craft between wind and water and send the whole 
pirate gang—cap’n, cook, and crew—to the hot 
place where they belong, I’d feel a whole lot 
better.” 

Then, from the distance, came a dull, heavy 
boom. 

Dorrocks whirled to look. From the whaler’s 
how, a curl of smoke was drifting away. 

‘‘She’s seen our distress signal!” he cried ex¬ 
ultantly. “She’s changing her course! That 
gun was only to tell us to hold on, for the junk’s 
out of her range, as yet. There! What did I 
tell you! Up goes her balloon jib! Main and 
fore-to’gallant staysails, too! Now she’ll walk 
along! Watch how the pirates’ll nin!” 

They did not run. To the trader’s great sur¬ 
prise, the sweeps were pulled steadily. Minute 
by minute, the junk drew nearer. 

Even with the rescuing whaler steadily ap¬ 
proaching, Dorrocks began to despair. A pirate 
junk which carried on and showed no fear of a 
good-sized whaling brig must be well-aimed and 
must carry a big crew of cut-throats. 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


139 

There came a second dull report from the dis¬ 
tant vessel. Although she was so far away, the 
shot fell close to the junk. 

'‘Some shooting!’’ exclaimed the trader. 
"That must be a naval gnin!” 

The length of range and the straightness of 
aim evidently caused some confusion on board 
the junk. Over the water there came the sound 
of distant pistol shots, and several of the sweeps 
hung idle. But the disturbance, whatever it may 
have been, was quelled, and after a couple of 
minutes’ delay, the junk came on, even more vig¬ 
orously. 

Again the pirates fired at the sampan with both 
their bow guns, one of the shots falling within 
less than thirty yards from the boat. Dorrocks 
hardly noticed it, so intently was he scanning the 
vessel which was speeding to their help. 

"What in thunder is that craft, anyway?” he 
muttered. "She’s whaler-built, that’s sure, but 
she’s flying the Dutch or the German flag—I can’t 
see which, quite—and she’s carrying heavier 
guns than any whaler I’ve ever seen. There!” 

A volley of three reports came simultaneously. 

"Two ten-pounders at the bow and broadsides 
of three six-pounders each, I reckon!” He 


140 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

turned to his companion, with a glint of hope. 
‘‘Padre, we’ll see that junk go do\vn to Davy 
Jones, yet!” 

Yet the pirates were not daunted. They foh 
lowed hot upon their prey. 

There came a rattle of musketry from the junk. 
Two holes suddenly appeared in the sampan’s 
sail, and one bullet splintered the bulwark just 
above Duncan’s head. 

The trader turned white, but not with fear for 
himself. He set his teeth hard and turned his 
body edgewise to the foe. 

The whaler’s big bow-gun spoke again. 

Where it hit, Dorrocks could not see, but its 
effect was immediate. Some of the sweeps 
stopped, and, a moment later, one of the mat- 
sails swung half round, as though the lee braces 
had been suddenly loosened. Again pistol-shots 
could be heard on board, and, so near was the 
junk, excited cries, also. Men could be seen 
struggling on the deck. 

“Mutiny, for sure!” exulted the trader. “The 
crew don’t want to fight! Now, they’ll have to 
run! ’ ’ 

But again, so it seemed, the pirate chief forced 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


141 

his will upon his mutinous crew. The sails were 
braced home, the sweeps re-manned, and the junk 
followed the sampan close. The plan of the pi¬ 
rates was clear. They would overtake the small 
boat, first, and turn to fight the larger enemy, 
afterward. 

A second volley of musketry followed. The 
bullets whistled around the standing figure of 
Dorrocks, but none of them touched him. 

Then— 

Crash! 

A shell burst full on the poop of the junk, kill¬ 
ing the helmsman and an officer, splintering the 
wheel and jamming the steering gear. 

The junk was now so close that those on board 
the sampan could hear the shouts of fury and 
despair, that followed the bursting of the shell. 
Dorrocks and Father Marsotte, watching in¬ 
tently, saw a rush of men along the pirate’s deck 
and the puffs of smoke or glitter of steel, as of¬ 
ficers and mutineers met. 

Unmanageable and not answering to her helm, 
with her officers and crew in a death-grapple, the 
pirate junk slewed round. Her mat-sails filling, 
she drove before the wind for the shore. 


142 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

Another broadside from the whaler riddled her 
upper works, for the brig was coming within easy 
range, now. 

^‘Fools!’’ cried Dorrocks, his sailor instinct 
coming uppermost. “Why don’t they cut their 
halyards and let the sails run? They’ll be on 
the rocks before they know it!” 

But, aboard the junk, discipline was at an end. 
Some one—probably without orders—let go the 
anchor without first heaving the lead to find out 
whether there were an anchorage or no. The 
anchor caught, then dragged, caught again with 
a jerk and the cable parted. 

There was no need for further firing. As the 
sampan sailed toward her rescuer, the brig 
backed her main-sails to watch the fate of the 
doomed pirate craft. 

A few minutes longer the junk drove on, 
blindly, then struck a reef of rock, a cable’s 
length off shore. A minute or two she hung 
there, then heeled over, and, down by the head, 
lunged straight on for the hungry clitfs. A sec¬ 
ond time she crashed, fell over on her beam ends 
and filled. Once more she almost righted and 
then plunged for the last time. 

The pirate junk was no more! 














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CHASED BY PIRATES 


143 


Five minutes later, the sampan had ranged 
alongside the brig, and Father Marsotte climbed 
wearily up the swinging rope ladder. Dorrocks 
handed the child to him, tossing the painter 
(rope) of the sampan to a waiting sailor and 
clambered on board with a seaman ^s agility. 

Two men were waiting for him, at the rail. 

English came the query from one of them, 
the master of the ship. 

‘^American,’’ Dorrocks answered. ‘‘Captain 
Dorrocks of the Frugal Venture^ hailing from 
Nantucket, Mass., wrecked on an uncharted reef 
and put ashore in China. We escaped from 
Ning-po in this sampan because an anti-foreign 
riot was raging there. But, since weVe been 
forty-two days in that small boat, youVe prob¬ 
ably got more recent news from China than we 
have.” 

“And I, Captain Obersann, of the German brig 
Freischutz, at your service.” 

“On a whaling trip. Captain!” queried Dor¬ 
rocks, with a natural curiosity, for the one swift 
glance he had cast around him when clambering 
over the rail had shown him that the armament 
of the FreiscJiutz savored of anything but whal¬ 
ing, and that the crew were Orientals to a man. 


144 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

‘‘Cruising for the owner, who aboard is; on a 
special venture we sail.’^ He turned to the lean¬ 
faced man who stood beside him and who had lis¬ 
tened with great intentness. “Mr. Jenkins, your 
countryman, the owner is.’^ 

“From the States?^’ said Dorrocks. “Fine!’’ 

The two men shook hands heartily, each sizing 
the other up shrewdly. 

The owner of the biig then took up the conver¬ 
sation, asking bluntly: 

“MJio are your companions. Captain Dor- 
rocks?” 

“This is Father Marsotte, head of the French 
mission hospital at Ning-po, who escaped when I 
did; this youngster is my son Duncan.” 

“H’m! French, is he? Excuse my sayin’ so. 
Father, but I don’t like that.” 

“And why not. Monsieur Jenkins, if I may 
ask?” 

“Certainly you may ask, an’ you’ve a right to. 
I’ll tell you straight. We’re bound for Korea.” 

“And what if so. Monsieur? Please explain.” 

“Then you haven’t heard what’s happened to 
your people in Korea?” 

“Has something happened? I have not heard 
a word. Monsieur. I have been in Ning-po for 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


145 

ten years. There is not much news that finds its 
way there.’’ 

‘T’m sorry to have to give you had tidin’s, 
then,” said Jenkins, gruffly, but not unkindly. 
‘‘All your three bishops an’ seventeen of the 
twenty French priests there have been tortured 
an’ butchered by the direct order of the King. 
Only three 0’ them escaped, where, I don’t know 
—China, I suppose. Over six thousand Korean 
Christians were killed, too. Every church, mis¬ 
sion house an’ hospital’s been burned down. 
What’s more, laws have been passed that every 
missionary landin’ in Korea is to be put to death 
by the first magistrate that finds him, without 
botherin’ about any trial.” 

Father Marsotte paled, staggered to the hatch¬ 
way and sat down. In his exhausted state, the 
shock hit him hard. 

“It is terrible news, indeed. Monsieur, terrible! 
May their souls rest in peace!” He muttered a 
prayer, while the others kept a respectful silence. 
“Ah, Monsieur,” he went on, “many of them 
were my friends!” 

Again a sympathetic pause. No one moved or 
spoke, awaiting the priest’s next words. 

“When did all this happen. Monsieur?” 


146 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

‘‘Four years ago, Father.^ It’s a wonder you 
hadn’t heard.” 

‘ ‘ And has nothing been done since! ’ ’ 

“Oh yes. France intervened at once an’ made 
things a durn sight worse. Admiral Roze, of the 
French Asiatic Fleet, was sent in command of a 
squadron of six small ships-of-war an’ 600 sol¬ 
diers to dethrone the King of Korea an’ raise 
Cain with every one who had a hand in the mas¬ 
sacre. The French didn’t know it, but that was 
a job for a whackin’ big army, not a handful of 
men. The troops had orders to attack Chemulpo 
first, an’ then to force their way to the capital. 
They didn’t know Korea! That wasn’t their 
fault; no one did, then. No one does yet, for 
that matter. 

“On their way to Chemulpo, the French fleet 
was compelled to attack Kang-wa, a city of 20,000 
people, built on an island, an’ commandin’ the 
narrow channel to the port. The resistance was 
desperate but the place was finally taken an’ 
set on fire by burstin’ shells. There wasn’t any 

1 The voyage of the German brig which was financed by the 
American adventurer Jenkins took place four years before the 
date given in this book. While all the incidents are historical, 
this slight change of date has been made to fit the purposes of 
the story. F. R-W. 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


147 


chance for escape an’ hundreds of non-combat¬ 
ants were burned to death. That didn’t make the 
natives love the French, any more, you can bet 
on that! 

‘^When the Admiral reached the mainland, at 
last, and got ready to march on Chemulpo, he 
found a good-sized army gathered. The Koreans 
seemed to he well-disciplined an’ well-led, but 
they were armed only with barbaric weapons like 
double-bladed swords, jagged-edged battle-axes, 
spears, an’ bow-an’-arrows. It looked like an 
easy win. 

^‘Although his force was so small. Admiral 
Roze had his orders. He landed his 600 soldiers 
an’ every sailor who could be spared from the 
ships, an’ charged to take the town in flank. The 
Korean ranks broke at the first rush, but, as it 
proved afterwards, this was only a trick. The 
French were led into an ambush. Half the force 
was cut to pieces almost immediately, an’ it was 
only with strenuous fighting an’ with heavy losses 
that the survivors were .able to make their way 
back to the ships. France hasn’t dared to tackle 
Korea again. 

^‘So you see why it is. Father, that I can’t take 
you with us to Korea. As a Frenchman an’ a 


148 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

missionary, you’d be in danger twice over. Your 
presence aboard might destroy our chances of 
success, an’, if you were found out, you’d be bow- 
strung, sure!” 

He turned to Dorrocks. 

“Of course, this doesn’t apply to you,” he 
went on, “you’re an American. If you could 
come with us on the expedition, I’d like it. An’ 
I’d make it well worth your while, too.” 

“What is the expedition?” the trader queried. 

“Come aft a minute, an’ I’ll tell you.” 

Captain Obersann, himself a Catholic, nodded 
approvingly at Father Marsotte, after the others 
left. 

“What Mr. Jenkins says true is,” he affirmed. 
“Most horrible murders have been. It is a coun¬ 
try which now not safe is.” 

The priest considered. 

“It is my duty to face any risks that come in 
the order of my work,” he responded, “but it is 
spiritual egotism to seek martyrdom uselessly. 
I will be guided by Captain Dorrocks, to whom I 
owe my escape.” 

After a few minutes’ consultation, the trader 
returned with the owner of the brig. 

“I think Mr. Jenkins is right,” he declared. 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


149 


‘Tt will be safer for you in Japan, Padre. He 
has oifered to put you ashore in a port where he 
knows you will find friends. He has bought the 
sampan, too, so I can give you some money to go 
on with. It isn’t healthy to be adrift in an Orien¬ 
tal country without cash.” 

^^And what about Duncan?” queried the priest. 

Dorrocks shrugged his shoulders. 

‘^He’d have been better off with Ying Hsiu, of 
course, if that old fox hadn’t made his house the 
headquarters of the anti-foreign riot leaders, so 
that Chin-sa couldn’t leave the boy there; that is, 
if she told the truth in that letter she left in the 
boat. The way things are now, I suppose the 
youngster’ll have to take his chance with us, 
though it’s a wild cruise and a wild crowd.” 

Leave the boy with me, then. He is much too 
young to be subjected to a wandering life. As 
soon as I get settled, I will write a letter to the 
American Consul at Nagasaki telling him where 
I am or where I have placed the boy. You will 
always be able to trace your son, that way.” 

‘‘Now, that’s a rattlin’ good idee,” put in Jen¬ 
kins. “As I’ve told you, Cap’n Dorrocks, this is 
a risky business. I’ll take the boy along, as I 
promised, if you want me to, because I’m not 


150 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

goin’ to see an American youngster in trouble, if 
I can help it. To my way o’ thinkin’, he’d be 
better off ashore. But you can settle that be¬ 
tween yourselves. ’ ’ 

And, with a consideration not to be expected 
from his brusque manner, Jenkins turned away. 
Captain Obersann following. 

^‘Tell me,” asked the priest, ‘4s this another 
smuggling voyage?” 

“No,” answered Dor rocks, “it’s not.” 

“Something worse, then?” 

The trader hesitated. 

“Yes,” he admitted, “I suppose you’d call it 
worse.” 

The priest laid a hand on his companion’s arm. 

“Come with me to Japan, my friend; you say 
you have a little money. We will find some way 
to live. It is better to be poor than to go back 
to evil ways.” 

The trader shnigged his shoulders. 

“Needs must w^hen the Devil drives, and the 
Devil is right busy around the China Seas. No, 
Padre, stuck as I am, now, without a cent except 
what Jenkins has paid me for the sampan—fairly 
and squarely I’ll admit—I’m not in a position to 
refuse any chance to earn a little money. The 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


151 

Freischutz saved our lives, too, we oughtn’t to 
forget that. 

‘‘As for Duncan, I’ll take your otfer, Padre, 
and be really grateful. The boy is fond of you, 
anyway. Let me know through the Consul at 
Nagasaki, like you say, and, just as soon as I can 
get hold of some more cash. I’ll forward it on to 
you. I don’t want any boy of mine to be brought 
up on charity.” 

Late that afternoon, the Freischutz rounded a 
rocky point and sailed into the fishing harbor, 
where Jenkins had guaranteed that the fugitives 
would find friends. Before actually landing, 
however, Dorrocks demanded an absolute assur¬ 
ance from the owner of the brig that Father Mar- 
sotte and the boy would be safe. 

‘‘The Japs haven’t got any too good a name,” 
the former opium smuggler declared, doubtfully. 
“I remember when the Morrisoyi, bringing gifts 
to the Mikado and having American Protestant 
missionaries aboard, was fired on in the Bay of 
Yedo, although she didn’t even carry a deck-gun. 

“Then there was the Manhattan^ which carried 
back to Japan twenty-two shipwrecked Japanese 
sailors—eleven of them rescued from a desert 
island—and, although she was just doing an act 


152 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

of kindness, she was held up and none of tlie crew 
was allowed to land on pain of death. I know 
that’s so, for the skipper—he was a Sag Harbor 
man—told me so himself, a year or two later. 

‘‘He told me, too, how Commodore Biddle of 
the U. S. Navy was shoved arid hustled on his own 
quarterdeck by a Japanese soldier, while he was 
on a mission to deliver a letter from the Presi¬ 
dent of the United States to the Mikado. He had 
to go away with a flea in his ear. ’ ’ 

“True enough,” agreed Jenkins, “and the Mik¬ 
ado ’s answer was as insulting as it could be made. 
I’ll admit that. But our Minister in China had 
told Washington that the time wasn’t ripe for 
try in’ to make treaties with Japan, yet.” 

“I’m not talking diplomacy,” retorted Dor- 
rocks, “I’m talking facts, and those facts aren’t 
any too savory. As for the crews of shipwrecked 
whaling vessels, there are plenty of records show¬ 
ing how distressed mariners on the shores of 
Japan were imprisoned, shut up in narrow cages, 
put in the stocks, stoned, and handled so roughly 
that a good many of them died. When I was sail¬ 
ing these seas, in the Opium War time, the Japs 
had a worse reputation for hostility to foreigners 
than even the Chinese. 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


153 


‘^So I want to know, Mr. Jenkins, before I 
agree to quit Father Marsotte and my boy, and 
to go on this expedition with you, if they’re go¬ 
ing to be absolutely safe, here. I’ll not leave 
them, else.” 

The owner of the brig shrugged his shoulders. 

‘^Absolutely safe? You know as well as I do 
that’s askin’ too much of any Oriental country. 
But you’re thinkin’ 0 ’ the old days, as they were 
before Perry came. When you start talkin’ about 
conditions in Japanese waters an’ this part o’ the 
world in general you want to remember that the 
biggest an’ best piece of diplomacy that ever hap¬ 
pened in the Orient was pulled olf by an Ameri¬ 
can, and a navy man, at that! ’ ’ 

“You mean Commodore Perry? I’ve heard of 
him, but I never knew what he did. Down in 
Ning-po, I’d enough to do trying to keep track of 
Chinese affairs.” 

“That explains it,” retorted Jenkins. “Well, 
Cap’n Dorrocks, you put this in your log—the 
openin’ of Japan to commerce, the awakenin’ of 
what’s goin’ some day to be a great nation, the 
puttin’ of modern idees into the heads of a peo¬ 
ple that were a thousand years behind the times, 
was the work of just two men. 


154 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

‘AYhen I tell you that Father Marsotte an’ 
your hoy are goin’ to be safe in Japan, it’s only 
because of what Commodore Perry did, eighteen 
years ago, and what Townsend Harris spent the 
next ten years in nailin’ down. He only had the 
rank of a Consul-General, had Harris, but he’s to 
be reckoned among the great diplomats of the 
world. He made the treaties with the Shogun, 
and another of our men, E. H. Pruyn, clinched the 
job with the Mikado, for good. 

‘^That Shogun-Mikado business is too long a 
yam to go into, now, for I want to get back to the 
ship before dark. I’ll tell it to you some time, 
though, if you want to know, for I’ve made it my 
business to find out. But, Shogun or Mikado or 
what-all, you don’t need to worry. 

‘^This fishin’ village we’re cornin’ to was one 
o ’ the first to welcome the great missionary apos¬ 
tle, Francis Xavier, soon after he landed in Kago¬ 
shima in 1549. Maybe you know how he Chris¬ 
tianized Japan, so’s there were two million con¬ 
verts in less’n fifty years, an’ how, in 1582, the 
Japanese Christian nobility of Japan sent an em¬ 
bassy to Kome. 

‘‘That was a quick-fire conversion, for sure! 
But the Jesuits went ahead a bit too fast, made 















Nagasaki and the Dutch Settlement, Deshima. 
From a Photograph taken hy a Japanese in 1867. 






CHASED BY PIRATES 


155 


enemies of the Buddhist priests, started meddlin’ 
with politics an’ got the Shogun sore on them. 
The embassy to Rome annoyed the Mikado, be¬ 
cause the nobles, when they came back, announced 
that the Pope was a bigger religious head than he. 

^^Laws were passed right away expelling the 
Jesuits. The Christians revolted, an’ put up so 
good a scrap that the rebellion had to be put down 
hard. Then there came a second anti-foreign 
bust-up, this time over the Portuguese traders, 
who were tryin’ their old slave-dealin’ tricks. 
The traders were kicked out of the country, too, 
and Japan was shut up tight. 

^‘Only four Dutch merchants, in a single fac¬ 
tory’ on the tiny artificial island of Deshima, in 
the harbor of Nagasaki, were allowed to stay, 
because the Dutch, bein’ Protestants, were hotter 
against the Jesuits than the Buddhists themselves. 
Deshima was more like a prison than a trading- 
post, though. The Dutch were never given a 
chance to leave their island—^^vhich was only two 
hundred yards long by eighty wide—and only two 
ships a year were allowed to come and trade. 

‘‘But Japan found—like a good many nations 
have found before her—that persecutin’ a re¬ 
ligion doesn’t kill it. The more you cut it down, 


156 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

the more it crops up again. When Townsend 
Harris made the treaties with the Shogun, he 
managed to get in an article providin’ for tolera¬ 
tion in religion. The native Christians, who were 
supposed to be extinct, dared to show themselves 
again. After a while new laws o’ suppression 
were declared, but the next American Consul, 
Pruyn, took the matter up with the Mikado an’ 
succeeded in squeezin’ out an Imperial Edict o’ 
Toleration for all Christians—Catholics an’ Prot¬ 
estants alike. That happened about three years 
ago. 

^^As soon as that Imperial Edict was promul¬ 
gated, this fishin’ village, here, came right to the 
front. It claimed to be the only place in Japan 
where a handful o ’ Christians had maintained un¬ 
broken Sunday services all the centuries since 
the time of Francis Xavier, an’ they had records 
to make good their claim, too. The local daimio, 
or feudal lord, was a descendant of one of the 
Japanese princes who had visited the Pope in the 
Sixteenth Century, an’ he’d protected his retain¬ 
ers. There was a big festival held, right on this 
beach, an’ pilgrimages o’ native Christians came 
from all over Japan. 

‘ ^ That’s how I came to hear about it. When I 


CHASED BY PIRATES 


157 

read about the pilgrimages, an’ found the place 
they were goin’ to was right on the sea, I figured 
it would be a good place to keep in mind. I could 
run into the harbor, easy, in case I had trouble in 
Korea. Bein’ Christians, I figured they’d be 
kindly disposed to foreigners. 

‘^That’s about the whole story, Cap’n, but you 
can see why I was willin’ to bet that Father Mar- 
sotte an’ the boy would be safer here than any¬ 
where else. Now, come ashore and see for your¬ 
self. ” 

No sooner did the keel of the boat grate on the 
beach than Dorrocks was able to see for himself 
that Jenkins had not exaggerated. On learning 
who the foreigners were, the headman of the vil¬ 
lage sent a runner to the daimio announcing their 
arrival. 

As for the fishermen, when they saw the cas¬ 
sock of the priest—though the black garb was 
rusty from the sea and much the worse for wear 

—thev clustered around him and clamored for his 
%/ 

blessing. Some of them could speak the Chinese 
lingua franca common to the coastal peoples and 
those were extravagant in their expressions of 
joy that a priest had come to them at last. 

The fishermen’s wives, who were permitted 


158 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

more freedom than their sisters in the cities, en¬ 
circled the little Duncan, and, with clacking laugh¬ 
ter, offered him quantities of candies and queerly 
prepared sea dainties, clapping their hands 
delightedly at the little fellow ^s quaint Chinese 
manners of courtesy. 

Dorrocks watched the scene with satisfaction 
and interest, all the more heightened when the 
runner returned with a message from the daimio 
that the ^‘honorable strangers were to be hospit¬ 
ably entertained, and that he would appoint an 
auspicious day to receive them.^^ 

‘‘Are you satisfied that I had it about right, 
Cap hi Dorrocks?’’ queried Jenkins, when this 
message was given. 

“Quite; and I’ll go with you to Korea, as I 
said.” 

He turned to the group on the beach. 

“You will stay here in Japan, for a time, with 
‘Second Father,’ Duncan,” he bade, picking up 
liis young son and giving him a tremendous hug. 
“It won’t be long before I come back.” 

“Dood-bye, Daddy,” replied the youngster, his 
mind more intent on the candy than on the fare¬ 
well; “turn back soon, Daddy!” Then, munching 
contentedly, he cried, as the boat pushed off, “I 
yike Dapan, Daddy!” 



























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CHAPTER V 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 

The Freischutz lost no time in getting away 
from the Japanese fishing village. So feverish 
was the haste shown that Dorrocks rightly 
guessed that Jenkins did not intend to give his 
new acquisition any time to reconsider his deci¬ 
sion. The trader realized that he was anxiously 
wanted, and decided to shape his course accord¬ 
ingly* 

That evening, a cabin council was held. There 
were present Dorrocks, Jenkins, Obersann, a bull¬ 
dozing Bristol mate called Trevellyn, who was 
also the chief gunner, and a shifty Hamburg ped¬ 
dler known to history in many guises, but whose 
true name was Otto Silberbaum. The latter was 
the evil genius of the whole affair, though the 
money for the expedition had been put up by 
Jenkins. 

Obersann, albeit a fair navigator, only held a 
maters certificate, and Jenkins was well aware 

159 


i6o WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


that this might bring him into trouble with the 
authorities in any port, if the truth should come 
out. He had not been able to get hold of a cer¬ 
tificated captain for such a crooked venture as 
this one, neither in Shanghai, whence he had first 
sailed, nor in Manila, where he had picked up 
Bully-Boy^’ Trevellyn and his unscrupulous 
crew. 

Dorrocks, with his Master’s Certificate and his 
shady record, was the very man the expedition 
most needed. Jenkins had tempted him to join 
them by the offer of a large share of the prize 
money, if the venture should succeed, and fair 
captain’s pay, even if nothing should come out of 
it. The trader, as he had told Father Marsotte, 
was not in a position to refuse the offer, but he 
had no intention of becoming the mere tool of his 
fellow-adventurers. 

^^Let me see if I get this straight,” said Dor- 
rocks, after a long conference in which case-bot¬ 
tles of Malay rum had played a leading part. 
‘‘As I understand it, this filibustering venture of 
yours is a scheme to get hold of some money 
which is buried in a king’s grave.” 

“Jewels, mine frient, jewels! Eubies big 
like a pigeon’s egg, emeralts like valnuts, lumps 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA i6i 


of golt like ^Bully-Boy’s’ two fists! Ve vill be 
rich, Captain, all of us, rich! Each of t’ose kings 
is buriet mit his jewels, pearls, maybe tiamonts, 
and—” 

^‘You can make your own pawnbroker’s cata¬ 
logue, Silberbaum,” interrupted Dorrocks, con¬ 
temptuously. There’s treasure there, sure, or 
you wouldn’t be nosing it out.” 

‘‘I’ve got reason to believe him, or I wouldn’t 
have put money into the quest,” added Jenkins. 

“Very good. Now these kings’ tombs, so far 
as I can make out, lie inland about a mile from 
the coast at a sort of royal cemetery called Ping 
An, which is marked on the chart, here. One 
king reigned for over fifty years, and, as it’s the 
custom of the country for the nobles to give the 
king some more jewels on every coronation anni¬ 
versary, and all these gems are buried with him 
when he dies, you figure that this royal grave 
ought to give some good pickings. That’s none 
of my business. Silberbaum can run the ghoul 
end of it. Have I got it about right so far?” 

“You use pretty strong language. Captain Dor- 
rocks,” replied Jenkins frowning. 

“You don’t like ‘ghouls’? Well, ‘body-snatch¬ 
ing,’ if you like it better. It seems to me that I 


i62 with the u. s. diplomats 


heard Silberbaum say something about taking 
away the bones and holding them up for ran¬ 
som ! ’ ’ 

Jenkins moved uneasily. 

‘ ‘ Silberbaum talks too much, ’ ^ he commented. 

‘Tt^s true, then!” said the trader. ‘H thought 
so! Well, the next part of the story seems to me 
a bit mixed up. If I get it right, Mr. Jenkins, 
you’ve told some kind of fairy tale to the Ameri¬ 
can Consul-General at Shanghai to the effect that 
the Korean Government is planning to send an 
embassy there to offer indemnity for the destruc¬ 
tion of the American schooner General Sherman 
last year and for the murder of every member of 
its crew. This, I take it, is pure invention.” 

Every word of it,” admitted Jenkins cheer¬ 
fully. 

”I don’t see what you expected to gain by that, 
but it’s your affair, not mine.” 

”I had to pull some wool over the Consul’s 
eyes,” the owner of the brig explained, ”or I 
could never have cleared this craft. He was a 
bit suspicious, anyivay. But he swallowed the 
story and gave me a sort of unofficial answer that 
the embassy would be welcomed. That way, I’ve 
got American papers, as well as German, and if I 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 163 

get caught anywhere, I can cover up my tracks, 
on the ground of secret diplomacy.’^ 

‘‘So much the better for all of us,’’ Dorrocks 
agreed, “if anything happens, we may need every 
trick to get away alive. It must have been a 
smooth yarn! But, just as body-snatching is Sil- 
berbaum’s business, so diplomacy—shall we call 
it ?—is yours. I’ve got nothing to do with either, 
and I don’t want to have. That’s clear, I think. 
No offence, I hope?” 

“Not in the least,” replied Jenkins, “on the 
contrary. The closer each man sticks to his own 
work, the better.” 

“Now for my part in the affair,” went on Dor- 
rocks. “Captain Obersann, as I understand, re¬ 
mains in nominal charge of the ship and the men, 
but since I hold a Master’s Certificate, I’m to act 
as Sailing Master and to give the courses to Cap¬ 
tain Obersann and Mr. Trevelljm. I take this op¬ 
portunity of complimenting Mr. Trevellyn for his 
handling of the ship and for his gunnery to-day; 
it’s a comfort to have a man of his type aboard.” 

“Thanks, Cap’n. Did my job, that’s all,” put 
in Trevellyn, but, by the mate’s expression, Dor- 
rocks knew that he had gained a powerful ally. 

“Now, to go on: When we reach Ping An, the 


i64 with the U. S. DIPLOMATS 

ship^s company is to be divided into three. One 
party, under Mr. Trevellyn, is to remain in 
charge of the ship; the second party, under my 
command, will supervise the landing and act as a 
covering force; the third, under Captain Ober- 
sann and Silberbaum, will rifle the graves. Mr. 
Jenkins holds himself free to be with whatever 
party he likes, and his word, as to the general 
conduct of operations, is final. Is that the 
planr^ 

‘Tt is exact, the leader answered. ‘T 
couldn’t have put it clearer myself.” 

“Giood. And when do my duties start!” 

‘‘Eight now.” 

“Enter my name on the ship’s articles as Sail¬ 
ing Master, then, and add ‘in full control of navi¬ 
gation.’ ” 

The articles were brought out and the entry 
made. 

“Another thing,” went on the trader, “I’d be 
glad to have that statement signed by Mr. Jen¬ 
kins as owner, and by Captain Obersann and Mr. 
Trevellyn as officers of the ship.” 

“Cap’n Dorrocks a sea-lavyer is!” objected 
the German, but he signed wfith the others. 

“Good!” declared Dorrocks with a grunt of 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 165 

satisfaction, when this was completed. ^‘Now, 
Captain Obersann,’’ he added, turning to his com¬ 
panion briskly, ‘^you’ll change that course three 
points to the eastward as quickly as God’ll let 
you! ’ ’ 

‘^Whyr’ 

‘‘Because I say so!” 

The German thrust his chin forward obsti¬ 
nately. 

“But why?” 

The air became electric. It was clear that the 
master of the brig resented the intrusion of the 
newcomer. Dorrocks realized that he must es¬ 
tablish his authority, now or never. 

“Since I’m Sailing Master in full control, it’s 
not your business to ask me why,” he said, 
sharply, “you’re to do as you’re told. But I’ll 
explain, just for your own satisfaction and that 
of the others here. You’re running the ship into 
danger.” 

“It is not so. Upon the chart, rocks and shoals 
none marked-are.” 

“You don’t know much about these waters if 
you reckon to go by a Dutch chart twenty years 
old and more. I’ve been aboard three watches, 
now, and the lead hasn’t been heaved once. Do 


i66 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


you call that proper navigating in strange wa¬ 
ters? I’ll take the correction sight by the stars 
to-night, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you were 
forty miles west of your course. If you weren’t 
out of your course, you wouldn’t have sighted 
Japan where you did. And your log shows an¬ 
other omission, too. What leeway have you al¬ 
lowed for the Kamchatka Current?’^ 

^‘Upon the chart no current marked is.” 

”If you’d ever hunted sea-otter in these waters, 
you’d know the Kamchatka Current, whether it’s 
marked on the chart, or no. Whose watch is it, 
now! 

”Mine, Cap’n Dorrocks,” answered Trevellyn. 

” Change the course three points to the east’ard 
and shorten sail, Mr. Trevellyn.” 

”Aye, aye, sir!” replied the mate cheerfully, 
and went on deck. The clank of the wheel-chains 
and the creaking of ropes and yards showed that 
the orders Avere being carried out. 

Dorrocks turned to his companion, who was 
staring sulkily at his rum-glass but dared not 
make an open protest, so evident was it that the 
new Sailing Master knew his business. 

”Do you know how to take a night sight. Cap¬ 
tain Obersann?” 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 167 

‘‘Prom the books, yes, but never one have I 
taken. ^ ’ 

“Come along with me, then and we’ll do it 
together,” suggested the trader, and, for the rest 
of the evening, he devoted himself to the task 
of smoothing down the ruffled temper of the 
German. 

As the days slipped by, and the Freischut^ 
made her way nearer to the coast of Korea, Dor- 
rocks grew more and more careful. He was now 
navigating a stretch of water absolutely unknown 
save to a few sealers and sea otter hunters. He 
kept the lead going, day and night, and any grum¬ 
bling on the part of the crew for the extra work 
was promptly stopped by “Bully-Boy” Trevel- 
lyn, a tine practical sailor and a marvellous han¬ 
dler of men. 

When, on two different occasions, the lead re¬ 
vealed a shoal not marked on the chart, with only 
two fathoms of water under the ship’s keel, every 
one on board. Captain Obersann included, ad¬ 
mitted that the American skipper had earned his 
right to authority. 

As they approached the shore, moreover, a pe¬ 
riod of sea-fog set in and it became necessary to 
travel by dead reckoning. In spite of the impa- 


i68 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


tience of the adventurers—Silberbaum, espe¬ 
cially, being most persistent and annoying—Dor- 
rocks reduced sail until the Freischutz had little 
more than steerage way. 

When the fog cleared, a week later, Dorrocks’ 
caution was again justified. The coast-line of the 
' Hermit Kingdom showed as a dim blur. The 
Sailing Master refrained from comment, but both 
officers and crew realized what would have hap¬ 
pened had they hit that rocky coast, in a fog, 
under full sail. 

‘‘How about anchorager’ queried Dorrocks, at 
breakfast that morning. “Does any one know 
what kind of a shore it is, off Ping An?^’ 

“It is goot!^’ declared Silberbaum. “I have 
seen it. T’ere is a bay, safe from vindt, and no 
rocks beneat^ the vater.’’ 

“How do you know what^s below the water?” 
snapped the trader, eyeing the “body-snatcher” 
suspiciously. 

To this the peddler could find no reply. 

Later in the morning Dorrocks took the occa¬ 
sion of a private chat with the head of the 
expedition. 

“Do you trust this man Silberbaum?” he 
queried. 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 169 

‘‘Not in the least,’’ Jenkins replied frankly. 
“He’s a slippery customer, sure. But, on board 
here, he’s everythin’ to gain an’ nothin’ to lose 
by stickin’ with the gang. He’s to get a big 
slice of the treasure. That’s cornin’ to him. He 
found out about it, first, an’ he’s taken a lot o’ 
risks in Korea, locatin’ it.” 

“H’m! Why do you suppose he’s been so 
fussy over our delay in the fog?” 

“Wants to lay hands on the cash as soon as he 
can, I suppose.” 

“Maybe; but he’s been gnawing his nails over 
the calendar a bit too much to please me.” 

“What are you drivin’ at, Cap’n Dorrocks?” 

“How much of the treasure have you promised 
him?” pursued the trader, ignoring the other’s 
query. 

“A quarter. I get a quarter as interest on my 
investment. The third quarter is set aside to 
pay expenses. The remainder is to be divided 
pro rata between Obersann, Trevellyn, you, and 
the crew.” 

“That’s fair enough, but Silberbaum might be 
wanting a bigger slice. Suppose he’s figured out 
some way of getting a third of the loot, or even a 
half?” 


170 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

do you mean? Mutiny? Do you sus¬ 
pect Obersann or Trevellyn?’’ 

Dorrocks shook his head. 

‘‘Neither, as yet. They^re both on board. A 
day sooner or later in landing wouldn’t make any 
difference to them. But when a man begins to 
get panicky because he doesn’t arrive by a cer¬ 
tain date, it looks as if he figured on something 
happening by that date, eh ? Suppose that skunk 
had double-crossed you and was expecting some 
one?” 

“You know something, Cap’n!” 

“I know nothing. I’m only feeling ’round. 
This is a queer trip, Mr. Jenkins, and we’re the 
only two Americans aboard. I don’t trust Sil- 
berbaum, any more than you do, probably 
less. I’ve been watching him pretty closely, this 
week back. Why was he so cussed anxious to 
talk about a good anchorage in a small bay, he, 
Avho doesn’t know a leadJine from a bucket- 
rope?” 

“What are you afraid of, exactly?” 

‘ ‘ Running into a trap, Mr. Jenkins, if you want 
a plain answer.” 

“What do you propose to do, then?” 

“Find an anchorage, myself. If the idea 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 171 

strikes you right, we’ll stand in, towards sunset, 
and heave to. Then I’ll have the sampan swung 
outboard, take three Chinks with me, one to swing 
a hand lead-line, another to manage the sails and 
a third to steer, and I’ll do a little surveying 
along the coast. You don’t want to lose the 
FreiscliutZy do you!” 

‘ ^ I’ve put every cent I’ve got into this venture. ’ ’ 

‘^Then don’t drop anchor off Korea until you 
know where you’re at! And, Mr. Jenkins, if 
you’ll take my tip, don’t let Silberbaum out of 
your sight for a second. Stay right with him. 
Don’t give him a chance to send a signal of any 
kind. Even if he wants to light a match, at night, 
stop him! I may be over-playing the cautious 
end, but it can’t do any harm. 

‘^As for me. I’ll get back in the sampan as soon 
as I find a decent anchorage. It may take me a 
day or two, because we ought to have a place 
where the guns of the brig’ll cover the landing 
beach.” 

^‘You’re takin’ this idee of yours durn se¬ 
riously, Cap’n!” 

^‘Most treasure hunts fail because of treachery, 
somewhere, and I’m leery of Silberbaum. Any 
way, you engaged me as Sailing Master, and I’d 


172 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

be a poor sort of sailorman if I dropped my an¬ 
chor in an nnsnrveyed bay because a two-for-a- 
cent push-peddler tells me he thinks it^s all right! 
When I let the hook go, I want to be sure what 
kind of holding-ground it goes into. But don’t 
let any one suspect anything until I get away.” 

According to plan, as dusk came on, the Freis- 
chutz drew in towards land, reaching the shore by 
dark. Just before heaving to, Dorrocks gave or¬ 
ders to Trevellyn to swing out the sampan with 
three picked men and a week’s provisions. 

Going in to survey for an anchorage,” he ex¬ 
plained. 

‘^An’ Silberbaum’s bay*—” began the amazed 
mate, and then stopped suddenly, as if he had bit¬ 
ten his tongue. 

Dorrocks pretended not to notice the remark, 
but, as he sailed towards shore in the sampan, he 
pondered over it. Of course it was possible that 
Silberbaum was honest and it was natural that he 
should have sought a landing place before engag¬ 
ing capital in his venture; it was equally likely 
that he was dishonest, and, if he were, Trevellyn 
was probably in the plot. 

In vain the trader tried to pump the Chinese 
sailors, using his most fluent Cantonese. Either 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 173 

they knew nothing, or they would say nothing. 

The first day^s survey, to the southward, 
brought no results. The rocky shores rose sheer 
from the sea. There was no beach for landing, 
and the lead-line showed a rocky bottom with no 
holding-ground for an anchor. 

On the second day, however, Dorrocks sailed 
into a small bay, just about the place where the 
chart on board the Freischutz was marked with a 
cross. As he rounded the point, the trader fan¬ 
cied that he intercepted a glance between the 
Chinese sailors. This put him on his guard, and 
he scrutinized the bay all the more closely. This, 
he thought, might be Silberbaum^s anchorage 
and landing-place. 

The more he looked at it, the less he liked it. 
The bay was sufficiently enclosed to afford a good 
harborage, it was undoubtedly ‘‘safe from vindC’ 
as Silberbaum had said, and there was a small 
beach, sloping steeply, indeed, but still negotiable. 

At the same time, the bay was too landlocked 
for easy running out to sea in case of danger, and 
a hostile force on the cliffs, with a single gun, 
could hold any ship a prisoner. In short, the 
harbor could be made into a perfect trap. 

It was not until the third day that Dorrocks 


174 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

returned to the Friescliutz^ tired, but content. 

‘^Wliat luck?’^ queried Jenkins eagerly, when 
they were alone. 

‘‘The best!’^ came the response. “Four miles 
up the coast I’ve found a good anchorage, com¬ 
manding a smooth landing-beach. The holding 
ground is fair, and there’s a clear run to open sea 
in case of need.” 

“That can’t be the place that Silberbaum 
talked of, then.” 

“What was his place like—a small landlocked 
bay, out of sight from the sea, with a high clitf 
on one side and a rocky plateau on the other!” 

“That’s exactly how he described it. You 
must have seen it, then!” 

“I did, the second day I was out.” Dorrocks 
lowered his voice. “I sailed back there, without 
lights, the night after.” 

He paused impressively and continued: 

“There was a fire blazing on the plateau, fac¬ 
ing out to sea!” 

“There was!” 

“I watched it for an hour.” 

Jenkins gave a dry chuckle, in spite of the grav- 
itv of the news. 

“If that was a bit o’ signallin’, Silberbaum 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 175 

hasn’t had the ghost of a chance to answer it. He 
hasn’t been alone a minute since you left, only in 
his cabin, an’ I hove the ship to on the starboard 
tack, so’s his port-hole should be facin’ away 
from the land. He’s locked up there, now. I 
didn’t let him talk to Obersann nor to Trevelljm, 
neither, all the time you were away. You’re 
right. Cap’ll! He’s got somethin’ up his dirty 
sleeve!” 

^H’m afraid so. Well, if it suits you, Mr. 
Jenkins, we’ll run in at dusk, and, if you’ll take 
my advice, you’ll not lose a minute. Have the 
men equipped and the boats all ready to drop 
into the water when the anchor’s let go. Get to 
shore at once, cover the four miles to Ping An at 
a good pace, smash the grave open and bag what 
you can in a hurry. Get back to the landing- 
beach by sunrise, if you can. Four miles out and 
four back—say at two miles an hour over rough 
country—that’s four hours. I’ll have the anchor 
down by ten, it isn’t sunrise until about six. 
That’ll give you four hours clear at the grave. 
You ought to be able to blow up the Pyramids of 
Egypt in that time!” 

‘Hf we don’t have any trouble finding the 
place! ’’ 


176 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

“If you do, it’ll be Silberbaum’s fault. If he 
hesitates or starts making excuses, put a pistol to 
his head. If he’s obstinate, shoot off one ear 
and tell him you’ll take off the other if he doesn’t 
make good. That’ll fetch him.” 

Jenkins shrank at the suggestion. 

“I’m not a pirate, Cap’n Dorrocks!” 

“You’re treasure-hunting with a crooked 
gang,” the trader replied grimly, “and Sunday- 
school methods won’t go!” 

“An’ you’ll cover the beach?” 

“I’ll do my durnedest. There’s another thing, 
Mr. Jenkins, you’d better take a couple of blue 
lights. If you need help, send up a rocket and 
I’ll come at the double, but don’t do it unless 
you’re forced to, because it’s unsafe to abandon 
the boats. If I see danger. I’ll send up a blue 
light at this end, and you streak back as quick as 
you know how.” 

Jenkins, little used to such affairs, followed 
Dorrocks implicitly. The day was spent in ar¬ 
ranging the landing-parties and in serving out 
tools and weapons. The trader—^who was as 
well acquainted with Chinese character as a white 
man ever can be—was well satisfied with the men 
and with their obedience to Trevellyn, but he did 



DESPERADOES IN KOREA 177 

not hide from the owner his belief that there was 
a conspiracy, somewhere. 

With three such officers as Dorrocks, Obersann, 
and Trevellyn, the details of anchoring and land¬ 
ing went like clockwork. Scarcely had the brig 
swung to her cable when three boats were out, 
Jenkins accompanied by Silberhaum commanding 
the one, Obersann being in command of the other, 
and Dorrocks of the third. A fourth boat was 
left on the ship. 

The instant the boats beached, the ‘‘body- 
snatching’^ party sprang ashore. They carried 
spades, pickaxes, and crowbars, but were armed 
also with revolvers and knives. Jenkins and 
Obersann carried rifles. Silberbaum, despite his 
protests, was stripped of his weapons. There 
was a stiff clamber up the rocky cliffs, and the 
treasure-hunting party was immediately out of 
sight. 

Dorrocks had all the boats drawn up on the 
beach, stern first, ready for launching with a 
slight push. This done, he curtly ordered his 
men to the cliffs. 

One of them, a headman, made an insolent re¬ 
ply in Chinese. It was only a grumble, but, as 
such, it was subversive of authority. On such an 


178 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

occasion as this, when mutiny seemed to be brew¬ 
ing, there could be no relaxation of command; if 
plotting were toward, Dorrocks could not afford 
to run the risk of having one of the men set the 
boats adrift and thus leave the whole party ma¬ 
rooned. 

The trader did not stop to argue. Without an 
instant’s hesitation, he drew his pistol and shot 
the man dead. 

The others, Chinese-fashion, showed no per¬ 
turbation at this slaying of their headman. But, 
no one grumbled further. All obeyed the trad¬ 
er’s orders with promptitude. 

Midnight came and passed. Dorrocks looked 
at his Avatch. 

‘‘So far, so good. They ought to be there, by 
noAv!” he muttered. 

Another hour slipped by and the trader’s spir¬ 
its rose. Surely all must be going well. Then, 
suddenly, the distant sky in the direction of Ping 
An Avas lit with a bright light, and a dull “boom” 
came a feAv seconds later. 

“That’s the dAuiamite!” commented Dorrocks. 
“They’ve found the tomb, all right, then!” 

Not an hour after, a blue light flared in the sky. 

Trouble! 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 179 

It was the call for help! 

Dorrocks snapped out an order in Chinese for 
his men to advance at the run. The sailors took 
rank, obediently enough, all save one, who, at the 
first flash of the blue light, had started like a 
streak toward the boats. 

The opium smuggler, experienced in many a 
danger, had not lost a motion, and, as the man got 
away, he raised his rifle to his shoulder. The 
sharp report was almost instantaneous. The 
man fell, and lay. 

Still covering his men with his revolvers. Dor- 
rocks walked backwards to the place and cast a 
glance at his victim, to make sure that the China¬ 
man was not shamming. There was no doubt 
about the matter. The man was dead. 

‘‘Forward, the rest of you!’’ cried Dorrocks, 
advancing again, ‘ ‘ The first man who breaks rank 
goes to his ancestors, and quick!” 

For an instant, the mutineers hesitated. 

Fearing that they might turn on him, the trader 
let blaze. 

A third man fell. 

Convinced, at last, that their leader would brook 
neither resistance nor delay, the rest of the Chi¬ 
nese broke into a run. 


i8o WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


It was a weird race through the night, and Dor- 
rocks, a heavily built man, felt his heart pound¬ 
ing as he labored after the lightly-running Celes- 
tials. If they outdistanced him, he had reason to 
fear that they might turn and make an ambush. 
His only chance lay in remaining right at their . 
heels and menacing them with his weapons. And 
ever, as he ran, he heard in front of him more and 
more clearly the barking of pistols and the crack 
of a single rifle. 

Up through a rocky gorge they tore, and sud¬ 
denly came upon the Tombs of the Kings and the 
scene of the fight. Men were mixed in a hand-to- 
hand melee, all the stranger to look upon because 
the fighters were dwarfed by the huge stone effi¬ 
gies reared upon the plain. 

In the faint light of false dawn, it was impos¬ 
sible to distinguish friend from foe. Several 
men were down. 

Jenkins, kneeling between the outstretched 
paws of a huge sculptured stone cat was using 
his rifle at easy range, and none dared to charge 
him. 

Driving his Chinamen before him into the con¬ 
fusion, Dorrocks dashed up to Jenkins. 

^‘What^s the trouble?^’ he panted. 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA i8r 


Don’t know!” came the reply. haven’t 
got the hang of it, at all. I haven’t an idea who 
we’re -fightin’, nor why. We’d blasted out the 
sarcophagus an’ were tryin’ to pry it open, when 
a bunch o’ Japs came down from the hill. I 
didn’t even see ’em until the scrap started.” 

^^Did your men stick?” 

Can’t exactly say. Some of ’em seemed to 
join up with the Japs, right away; some started 
tightin’. I can’t tell which is who. I’m pottin’ 
every one I can get a bead on, regardless 1 ’ ’ 

^‘Did you get the treasure?” 

couple of handfuls of gems, and a little 
casket from a small grave I opened up myself 
while the others were workin’ on the big tomb. 
We hadn’t been able to get into the old king’s 
coffin before the Japs were on us.” 

^‘Are you sure they are Japs?” 

‘‘They look like Japs, anyway. Stand fast, 
Cap ’n, here they come, the lot of ’em! ’ ’ 

Dorrocks knocked up the muzzle of his compan¬ 
ion’s gun, just as he was about to fire. 

“They’re running away, not charging!” he 
warned. 

In effect, as they came nearer, from the fleeing 
men burst a frenzied cry: 


i 82 with the u. s. diplomats 


^‘The Koreans! The Koreans!’’ 

For a second Dorrocks thought the cry was a 
ruse, but, in the growing light of dawn, he could 
see that the fear was genuine, for, like ants pour¬ 
ing out of an ant-hill, a torrent of black specks 
rolled down the slopes beyond. 

‘‘To the ships!” cried the fleeing sailors. 

Dorrocks sprang to his feet. 

“Kun, Jenkins, run!” he cried. “Move as fast 
as you know how! If those yellow devils get to 
the boats first, they’ll push off and leave you 
stranded. ’ ’ 

The leader of the expedition swung himself 
down from the paws of the huge stone cat and set 
off at his best speed, Dorrocks pounding after 
him. Punning was easier, now, for daylight was 
coming fast, but that helped the Orientals as much 
as the white men. 

Out from the ruck of the following Chinese and 
Japanese, one tall man came speeding. Dorrocks 
turned to face him, his pistol ready. 

To his great surprise, the stranger, without 
slackening his pace cried, ‘ ‘ Got my hands up! ” in 
good American, suiting the action to the word. 
“I’m with you. Beat it for the boats!” 

“Who the blazes are you?” 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 183 

^ ‘ Tell you about that, on board ship, if we ever 
get there,came the reply. 

It was an unsatisfactory answer, but, under the 
circumstances, it was idle to argue. Side by side 
the two white men tore along, the Chinese not 
more than a hundred yards to the rear. 

Soon, Dorrocks, in spite of his iron will, began 
to fall behind. His years and his weight told on 
him, and he had run at his fastest speed all the 
way .to the battle. Now his breath began to come 
hard and his feet to drag. 

The stranger noticed it, and he eyed his com¬ 
panion's condition critically. 

‘‘You won’t be able to make it,” he said, 
“you’re about all in. Drop to a walk an’ go 
ahead. I’ll cover your retreat.” 

“But you?” 

“If I can’t hold back a pack of curs like that, 
I’m not much good! As for catchin ’ up with you, 
again, don’t worry. I can run like a jack-rabbit. 
I used to be on the Cornell track-team.” 

“But—” 

“Don’t waste your breath, talkin’. Walk, if 
you have to, but get on!” 

He dropped back, took cover, and immediately 

began shooting. 



184 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

The fleeing sailors supposed at once that the 
three white men, all well-armed, confronted them. 
Panic-stricken at the thought of an ambush in 
front of them and the Koreans behind, they scat¬ 
tered away from the faintly-marked path. They 
still ran on, indeed, but over ground bestrewn 
with rocks and huge boulders, where speed was 
impossible. 

The stranger, firing from time to time and load¬ 
ing as he ran, caught up with Dorrocks a mile 
further on. 

‘‘Jenkins has got away clear, has he?’^ he 
queried. 

“Yes,’^ the trader replied, wondering who this 
man could be who seemed to know so much about 
the expedition. Then the truth flashed on him. 

“You must be the leader of the other bunch,’’ 
he declared, “of the Japs who attacked Jenkins!” 

“I am, or rather, I was. I don’t know who you 
are, though.” 

It was on Dorrocks ’ lips to give a sharp retort, 
but he remembered, in time, that this man also 
was armed, was a better runner than he, and, as 
a leader of a marauding gang, would probably 
stick at nothing. 

“Tell you on board, too,” he gasped. 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 185 

They ran on in silence for a few minutes. 

'^Good thing this path is gettin^ so rocky,’’ the 
stranger commented, presently. 

^^WhyP’ 

^‘Horses can’t travel fast over it. Some of 
those Korean officers are mounted.” 

thought I saw horses in the distance.” 

^‘They’re not in the distance, now,” came the 
grim retort. can hear hoofs.” 

^‘Hadn’t we better make a stand?” panted Dor- 
rocks. 

^^No. It takes better shootin’ ’n any Korean 
c’n do to aim straight from a gallopin’ horse. 
Keep on goin’, that’s all. It’s not more’n half 
a mile to the edge o’ the cliff. I suppose, by the 
way you’re all headin’, your ship’s down there. 
I’ve been lookin’ for her, a week past, four miles 
down the coasb” 

^^In Silberbaum’s bay, I suppose. I know!” 
He made a pause, for his breath was coming in 
sobbing gasps. saw your signal fire, there.” 

^^You did, eh?” The stranger’s voice was 
thoughtful. ^^Well, something’s gone wrong with 
the plans, that’s a cinch. The scheme’s all gone 
to pot, an ’ we ’ll be lucky to save our skins instead 
of pocketin’ the treasure.” 


i86 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


This remark called for an explanation, but Dor- 
rocks had no strength to spare for speech. 

that’s bad,” his companion went on, 
presently. ^‘There’s one of those confounded 
Korean horsemen, cornin’ over the crest, now. 
You’ve got a rifle. Do you suppose you could 
pot him?” 

‘T’ll try!” 

Dorrocks stopped, but his heart was pounding 
so hard and his hands were so shaky that he could 
not draw a bead. 

^Wou take it,” he said, handing the rifle over, 
‘ ^ I couldn’t hit a haystack, now. ’ ’ 

‘^Run on, then, or walk, if you can’t run. I’ll 
teach that Korean gentleman to poke his nose in 
where he’s not wanted!” 

Though a trustful action, this surrender of the 
rifle was a dangerous one, for the stranger—who 
was, or who had been a foe—might easily have 
put a bullet into Dorrocks’ back. Yet the new¬ 
comer inspired confidence. 

Nor was this trust misplaced. A couple of 
minutes later, there was a sharp crack. 

Again Dorrocks heard the light quick step of 
the stranger, overtaking him. 

‘‘The sun’s cornin’ up an’ he was silhouetted 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 187 

right against the most dazzling bit of it. That 
made tough shootin^ I plugged the horse, to 
make sure. The rider, whoever he is, won’t come 
on alone. Keep it up, we’re not far from the 
cliff. 

‘^Ah,” he continued, as they passed a cleft in 
the rocks, which gave them a sight of the sea, 
^‘there’s your ship, eh? Then we’re nearly 
there.” 

There’s a stiff bit of climbing down to do, 
yet.” 

Tired out, eh? You look about collapsed. 
Well, easy does it. Here, I’ll go ahead a step or 
two and give you a hand down.” 

The two were not more than half-way down the 
cliff-face when the horde of Chinese and Japs ap¬ 
peared above them at different points on the cliff, 
scrambling, sliding, slipping, falling, getting 
away from the pursuing Koreans as best they 
could. 

Down below, Jenkins was just crossing the 
beach at a smart run. With a sigh of relief Dor- 
rocks observed that the boats were still there. 

Then, above their heads, appeared the advance 
guard of the Koreans, right on the edge of the 
cliffs. 


i88 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


A new factor came into the battle. 

A shrapnel shell came screaming above them, 
and burst just before reaching the band of 
pursuers. The bullets whistled venomously. 
Screams of pain came welcomingly to the ears of 
the fugitives. 

That’ll help a bit,” exulted the stranger, 
”Come on!” 

Black spots were dancing before Dorrocks’ 
eyes. Had he been alone, trying to descend those 
jagged rocks, he would have fallen. His com¬ 
panion took him by the arm with an iron grip, 
and forced him on. 

Thus handicapped, the sailors easily overtook 
and passed them in a frenzied rush for the boats. 

” You’ll get left!” gasped Dorrocks. ‘‘Go 
ahead and leave me. ’ ’ 

‘‘Not by a dum sight! Isn’t Jenkins there, 
anyway?” 

‘‘He can’t hold them all back. He’s a green¬ 
horn at this game. They’ll rush him!” 

Summoning up all his force, the trader shouted 
at top voice: 

“Get in and shove off, Jenkins! You can pick 
us up, afterwards!” 

The warning was just in time. 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 189 

The flood of Chinamen and Japanese was pour¬ 
ing across the beach as Dorrocks’ shout rang 
from the cliff. 

Two of the foremost sailors, indeed, reached 
the boat which Jenkins was pushing into the sea, 
and, regardless of the fate of their fellows, leaped 
in, also. With scarcely a few seconds between 
them, the other three boats took water, in the 
panic of hurry one being overloaded almost to 
sinking, while two were only half-filled. 

A score of sailors were left stranded on the 
beach. Lining up, they formed a threatening 
barrier to the two white men who had reached the 
bottom of the cliff and were crossing the beach 
to the shore, Dorrocks stumbling at every step 
and being borne up only by his companion’s 
strength. 

‘^Do you suppose you could swim a stroke or 
two?” queried the stranger. 

‘‘A mile or two!” came the gasping but con¬ 
fident reply. 

^‘Good. We’ll cut through and make for the 
water, then.” 

He called aloud, suddenly, in Japanese: 

‘‘Shimoni! Nape! If you want to save your¬ 
selves, come with me! ” 


190 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

There was a sudden commotion in the barrier 
of men standing by the shore, and, seizing the ad¬ 
vantage of this diversion which he had pla^ined, 
the stranger burst through the cordon and 
plunged into the sea, Dorrocks and two of the 
Japanese following. 

Just before he dived, the trader called aloud: 

‘^Ahoy, Jenkins! Stand by to pick us up!’’ 

The cold water restored Dorrocks almost in¬ 
stantaneously. He was a perfect swimmer, and 
the buoyancy of the water was an incredible re¬ 
lief after that nightmare race on shore. Tread¬ 
ing water, he stripped himself of his clothes and 
pulled otf his boots, with as much ease as if he 
were in his own cabin. 

It was well he did so. The stranger could 
swim, after a fashion, but the sea was choppy, 
and he strangled and spat in a manner that be¬ 
trayed he could not long keep afloat. 

^ ^ I can’t swim in my clothes, ’ ’ he gurgled. ‘ ‘ Is 
the boat far?” 

‘‘Put your hand on my shoulder,’^ replied the 
trader, “that’ll keep you afloat, and give you a 
chance to get your boots otf, at least. Even if 
Jenkins can’t pick us up, I think I can get to the 
ship. ’ ’ 


DESPERADOES IN KOREA 191 

A broadship roared from the Freischutz, fol¬ 
lowed by a rattle of musketry. 

Dorrocks turned his head to look. The Ko¬ 
reans had reached the bottom of the cliff, and 
the volley had caught them, bunched. 

<<Trevellyn’s stayed loyal, then,’’ he com¬ 
mented. was afraid he’d turn the guns on 
us.” 

‘‘Why should he^’ queried the stranger, with 
the same uncanny knowledge of the expedition 
that he had shown before. “He hasn’t got the 
loot, yet! ’ ’ 

Dorrocks dropped into silence. In spite of his 
ability as a swimmer, exhausted nature was be¬ 
ginning to have her way. The stranger’s hand 
was heavy. His own arms felt as though made of 
lead. As for his legs, muscle-strained from the 
long run, they seemed to be paralyzed in the 
water. He was still swimming when the boat 
came alongside, but feebly and wearily. He had 
to be dragged aboard, as had also his companion. 

In the distance could be heard the clank of the 
windlass, as the crew shortened anchor. Aloft, 
the men were loosing sail. 

The rescuing boat was the last to come along¬ 
side the Freischutz, 


192 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

As in a dream, Dorrocks clambered on board. 
Yet, as he stepped on the deck, the sense of nau¬ 
tical authority returned. 

Heave up, Mr. Trevellyn,’’ he ordered, ‘‘and 
run to the southward, full-an’-by. Idl give you 
the exact course presently.’’ 

“Shall I give ’em another broadside, sir!” 

“No use wasting powder. Get out to sea un¬ 
der all the canvas she’ll carry. There may be 
war-junks out after us, already.” 

“Cap’n Obersann’s not come on board yet, 
sir!” 

“So? ’Vast heaving, then. I’ll speak to Mr. 
Jenkins.” 

The question as to Obersann’s whereabouts 
was quickly answered. 

“He deserted to the Japs at the first pistol 
shot,” the owner of the brig replied, frooming, 
“and, if I’m not mistaken, he was knifed in the 
back by one of his own men.” 

“And Silberbaum?” 

Jenkins’ face grew black. 

“When the Japs came, he jumped into the half- 
dug grave and hid there, to be out of danger. 
For all I know, he’s there yet. ’ ’ 

“Then you won’t wait?” 



Korea 





























Apia, the Little Town Strung Along the Beach. 

From Samoa ’Uma” by Lleioella P. Churchill. Forest (fc Stream Publishing Co. 










DESPERADOES IN KOREA 193 

“Mutineers must take their chances! You’re 

t 

in command of this ship now, Cap’n Dorrocks, 
but I’m the owner. I wish to get out to sea! ’ ’ 
The opium-smuggler nodded and walked to the 
forward rail of the poop. 

‘‘Break her out, Mr. Trevellyn!’^ he called. 

A dozen pawls of the windlass clicked, the an¬ 
chor broke free, the sails filled, and the Freischutz 
sped to the safety of the open sea. 


CHAPTER VI 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 

Although the treasure-seekers had failed to 
tear asunder the great sarcophagus in the Tombs 
of Ping An, where gems worth many millions lay 
buried—and lie buried still—the quest had not 
been all in vain. 

While the ‘‘body-snatching^^ gang was toiling 
at the Great Tomb, Jenkins, with two men, had 
forced open a smaller grave, which must have 
been that of a queen or a king’s favorite. The 
necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and rings which he 
had lifted from the powdery mass of crumbled 
bones and shreds of royal robes, and the gems he 
had found in the small casket on which the skull 
had rested, far more than repaid the expenses of 
the expedition, and left a handsome sum besides. 

Nor had it been necessary to divide this treas¬ 
ure among many. Obersann was dead. Silber- 
baum, in all probability, had been discovered by 
the Koreans in the violated tomb of the Great 


194 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 195 

King, and, if so, he had been put to the torture. 
As for Trevellyn, his part in the mutiny had been 
proved. 

After the FreiscJiutz had got clear to sea, eas¬ 
ily out-distancing the fleet of war-junks sent in 
her pursuit, Jenkins and Dorrocks had made an 
official nautical enquiry on board as to the pro¬ 
posed mutiny. They had found no difficulty in 
learning the truth, for the stranger who had been 
the leader of the Japanese had been perfectly 
willing to tell what he knew. He had told every¬ 
thing save his own American name, insisting on 
being called Trugutsi^, his name in Japan, for he 
claimed to have become a Japanese subject. 

The mutiny plan, of course, had been Silber- 
baum^s all through. Though the bare outlines of 
it were clear, certain details were not easy to un¬ 
ravel. Some of the twisted threads led straight 
to the dead man’s cunning brain, and no one could 
say exactly how he had planned to finish the 
devious plot. 

Irugutsi, though he had refused to reveal any¬ 
thing about his own past, in the official enquiry 
had admitted that the Hamburg peddler had told 
him the story of the Tombs of Ping An, many 
years before. Several times the two of them had 


196 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

planned to recover the treasure, but Silberbaum 
would never disclose all the details to him, and 
Irugutsi had refused to undertake so dangerous 
and difficult a quest until he knew that a well- 
armed ship lay in the offing, ready to ensure es¬ 
cape. 

It had been arranged between them that, if 
Silberbaum should ever be able to get hold of a 
man with an adventurous spirit and a little cap¬ 
ital, who would stake him to a ship, he would let 
Irugutsi know immediately. 

In that case, each was to go to work in his own 
way. Silberbaum was to engage a mate and crew 
who might be counted upon to join in a scheme of 
mutiny, so as to ensure control at sea; Irugutsi 
was to take a small band of Japanese cut-throats 
to Ping An, either to lead a raid on land or to 
seize the vessel while its owners were away, ac¬ 
cording as things might turn out. 

A second part of Silberbaum plan had been to 
seize the bones of the Great King and to ship 
them to a secret hiding-place on one of the tiny 
islands in the Japanese Archipelago, there to hold 
them for ransom. That part of the work, Iru¬ 
gutsi had admitted, he and his band were to do. 

Either on board ship, or on land, all the honest 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


197 


men were quietly to be put to death. Thus Sil- 
berbaum and Irugutsi had expected to find them¬ 
selves in possession of the treasure, of a well- 
armed ship on which to escape, and with a good 
means of securing a heavy ransom. 

The plot had been well planned and it would un¬ 
doubtedly have succeeded had it not been for the 
picking up of Dorrocks. Obersann had agreed to 
join the mutineers and would have sailed the 
Freischutz into the landlocked bay chosen by Sil- 
berbaum, from which place the vessel would never 
have come out save in the hands of the mutineers 
or of the Japanese raiders. Either way, Silber- 
baum stood to win. 

Dorrocks’ suspicion of the slippery Hamburg 
peddler had brought to naught this long-laid plot. 
His discovery of another anchorage had foiled 
the scheme of capturing the Freischutz in the bay, 
while the imprisoning of Silberbaum in his cabin 
had prevented him from sending any signals of 
warning to Irugutsi, who was watching on the 
shore. 

The one thing which had puzzled Dorrocks most 
—the sudden arrival of the Japanese raiders— 
had been explained by Irugutsi. The leader of 
the raiding party had seen the small sailing sam- 


198 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

pan when Dorrocks had entered the bay to survey 
it. He had lighted the signal fire that night, sure 
of Silberbaum’s long awaited arrival. But when 
the vessel did not answer his signals, and when 
she did not come into the bay either that night 
nor the next, he had begun to fear that the sam¬ 
pan did not come from Silberbaum at all, but that 
some other party was on the track of the treas¬ 
ures of Ping An. 

Accordingly, he had sent one of his men, who 
was a good runner, to stay at the tombs the next 
night and to bring him word instantly if any one 
came. Irugutsi^s camp was only a couple of miles 
from Ping An. When the runner had brought 
the news of the arrival of Jenkins and his dig¬ 
ging party, therefore, he had been able to gather 
his men together directly, and to arrive at the 
scene of action just before dawn. 

The capture of Jenkins and the seizure of the 
ship might have been accomplished even at *the 
last moment, despite the rescuing aid of Dorrocks, 
if it had not been for the unexpected appearance 
of the Koreans. These, it seemed, had been sus¬ 
picious of Irugutsi and his band, and were lying 
in wait, watching them. They had been brought 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


199 


into action at Ping An by the flash of the explod¬ 
ing dynamite, when the Great King’s tomb was 
wrecked. 

During the course of this enquiry, Irugutsi’s 
position, on board the FreiscJiiitz, was a somewhat 
anomalous one. 

With perfect frankness he had admitted his 
part in a plot to kill Jenkins, while not knowing 
who Jenkins might be. Yet, though he had led 
the Japanese into the fray, he had sided with the 
white men the instant the Koreans appeared. He 
had abandoned his own men and risked his own 
life in order to save Dorrocks and to cover Jen¬ 
kins’ retreat. 

Punishment had been out of the question. Iru- 
gutsi was not a member of the crew of the Freis- 
chutz and hence did not come under sea law. 
Nor, for that matter, could he be held in irons 
until arrival at the nearest port, for he claimed 
to be a Japanese subject and the papers of the 
Freischutz were not such as to induce its owner 
to court investigation. 

Jenkins, therefore, realizing that it was better 
to make him a friend than an enemy, and with 
gratitude for his aid in the flight from the Ko- 


200 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


reans, had given him a small sum of money and 
had guaranteed to set him ashore, safely, in 
Japan. 

The fate of Trevellyn had been more difficult 
to decide. As the mate had confessed to partici¬ 
pation in the mutiny plot, Dorrocks, as captain of 
the ship, would have been thoroughly within his 
rights in hanging the plotter to the yard-arm. 

Such action, however, would have been mani¬ 
festly unfair. Trevellyn had not done a single 
mutinous act. On the contrary, when the Ko¬ 
reans had appeared, he had manned the ship’s 
guns in defence of the owner. Besides, he held 
the crew in the hollow of his hand. To punish 
him might lead to reprisals and reawaken the 
mutinous spirit. 

Jenkins, therefore, had decided to give Trevel¬ 
lyn a small share of the treasure and to retain 
him in his post as mate, thus turning a would-be 
mutineer into a loyal supporter. 

In order to avoid suspicion, the Freischutz had 
not returned immediately to Japan. Under Dor- 
rocks’ experienced handling, the crew had picked 
up a cargo of seal and sea-otter furs and had 
made a trading voyage to several ports in the 
Orient. Thanks to Jenkins’ shrewdness in hav- 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


201 


ing secured American papers when in Shanghai 
(the vessel had sailed as the Hamilton, when un¬ 
der the Stars and Stripes), no question had been 
raised in any of the ports she touched. In 
Samoa, especially, they had found the situation 
ideal for irregular trading, for a civil war was 
raging and gun-running was profitable. 

Suspicion having been thus averted, the brig 
had returned to the fishing village where Father 
Marsotte and Duncan were then living. There, 
Irugutsi and his two Japanese followers had been 
set ashore, with a certainty that they would hold 
their tongues for their own sake. 

But this raid upon the Tombs of Ping An was 
not to pass out of history so smoothly. Jenkins 
had started an international fire which it was not 
easy to quell. As a matter of fact, this filibuster¬ 
ing treasure-quest, despite its failure, molded 
the whole future history of Korea. 

ConsuDGreneral Seward, at Shanghai, believing 
Jenkins^ fairy tale about the proposed Korean 
embassy which was to pay an indemnity for the 
loss of the General Sherman and the murder of 
her crew, had reported the matter to Washington. 
When the embassy failed to materialize, Seward 
reported this delay, also. 


202 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


Having no reason to doubt the truth of these 
reports, the Department of State determined to 
take the question up seriously. Twenty-five 
years before, Congress had passed a resolution 
urging the making of a treaty with Korea for the 
protection of shipwrecked mariners, but nothing 
had come of it. This supposed Korean proposal 
for an embassy seemed to show, at least a willing¬ 
ness to deal justly. The time seemed opportune 
for realizing a long-deferred hope. 

Secretary of State Fish instructed the Ameri¬ 
can minister at Pekin to visit Korea with the Asi¬ 
atic squadron and to secure treaties for the pro¬ 
tection of shipwrecked mariners, and for com¬ 
merce. Prior to that time, not a single trading 
vessel had been allowed to touch on Korean 
shores. Minister Low was advised to deal 
strictly in the General Sherman affair, but ^Ho 
avoid a conflict by force, unless it cannot be 
avoided without dishonor.’’ 

The United States minister, a first-rate diplo¬ 
mat who knew a great deal about conditions in 
the Orient, was frankly skeptical as to achieving 
any tangible results in Korea, but he had his in¬ 
structions. He summoned Seward to Pekin, but 



A ‘DEEP-SEA TRAP 


203 

failed to shake the ConsuPs faith in Jenkins’ 
story. 

In May, 1871 , therefore, Minister Low, on 
board the flagship of the Asiatic squadron, and 
with four other American naval vessels, appeared 
off the harbor of Chemulpo. Messages were sent 
to the King of Korea and to the governor of the 
province announcing that the intention of the visit 
was peaceful. No reply was received to these 
messages. 

After a couple of days’ waiting, two of the 
ships and two steam-launches started up the long 
neck of the sea to Chemulpo. As they passed the 
site of the city of Kang-wa, which had been de¬ 
stroyed by the French, the rebuilt forts fired upon 
the vessels. The American ships returned the 
fire and the forts were silenced. 

Minister Low was all the more convinced, as he 
had been from the beginning, that the time was 
not yet ripe to force Western methods on the 
Hermit Kingdom. Together with Admiral Rod¬ 
gers he deemed it necessary, however, to demand 
an apology from the Korean oflBicials for this at¬ 
tack by the forts, as American prestige in the 
Orient might otherwise be injured. 


204 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

In answer to this demand for an apology, the 
governor of the Korean province replied, with 
fairness and with dignity: 

^‘Our kingdom is placed east of the Eastern 
Sea. Your honored country is located \vest of 
the Western Ocean. All is wind and sand be¬ 
tween, for the extent of 70,000 li (leagues). For 
four thousand years there has been no communi¬ 
cation between your country and ours. It may 
be said that it is Heaven’s limitation that has 
placed us so remote from each other, and Earth’s 
that it has hung us so far apart as to cut us off 
from each other. . . . 

‘‘There has formerly been not a particle of ill 
feeling between us. Why should arms now drag 
us into mutual resentment? If you ask us to ne¬ 
gotiate and carry to the future our friendly re¬ 
lations, then let me ask you how can four thou¬ 
sand years’ ceremonies, music, literature, and all 
things, be, without sufficient reason, broken up 
and cast away? . . . 

“It would be better early to make out a right 
course of action and each to remain peacefully 
in his own place. We inform you, that you may 
ponder and be enlightened.” 

Though Minister Low secretly felt that the 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


205 


Koreans were absolutely in the right, the action 
of the forts in firing upon American vessels was 
held to be a matter demanding punishment. A 
force of 750 men was landed from the squadron. 
The forts were destroyed after a sharp battle, 
in which the Americans lost three killed and nine 
wounded. The Korean losses were over two 
hundred and fifty. 

When he returned to China, Minister Low sent 
for Seward again, and insisted on finding out 
all the details of the ConsuPs information. A 
searching inquiry was made. Jenkins^ story 
was exposed and shown to have been a blind to 
cover his own illicit plans. 

The United States, therefore, had been in the 
wrong all through, and the American Minister 
reported so, plainly. But, while the President 
informed Congress of this blunder and admitted 
this unwarranted aggression on Korea, neither 
an indemnity nor an apology was ever offered to 
the Hermit Kingdom. This incident stands out 
as almost the only grave error committed by the 
United States in all her diplomatic dealings in 
the Orient. 

Jenkins’ treasure quest was to have some fur¬ 
ther historical results. The men of Irugutsi’s 


2o6 with the u. s. diplomats 


band were Japanese, and all save two of them 
had been killed. When, a couple of years follow¬ 
ing, a Japanese junk was shipwrecked on the 
coast of Korea and half the men were slain, 
Japan put the two issues together and sent a 
warship to Chemulpo to demand satisfaction for 
both. 

As had happened with France and with the 
United States, no sooner did the Japanese war¬ 
ship arrive near Kwang-sa than the forts there, 
erected anew, opened fire. The Japanese vessel 
steamed by at full speed, not even answering with 
a broadside, and dropped anchor before Che¬ 
mulpo. The admiraPs message to the Korean 
authorities was stern—an apology from the gov¬ 
ernor within twenty-four hours, a royal abase¬ 
ment within three days, a full commercial treaty 
within ten days, or War. 

This brought Korea to terms. France and 
America were very far away, and the Korean au¬ 
thorities knew but little about them. Japan was 
a neighbor, known to be powerful, rapidly trans¬ 
forming her old-type civilization into a modern 
one, and able to wreak a terrible vengeance if she 
once began. Korea found herself forced to sign 
a treaty guaranteeing protection to shipwrecked 



A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


207 

sailors and opening three of her ports to the com¬ 
merce of Japanese ships. 

Other nations, notably France, England, and 
Holland, tried to force the Hermit Kingdom into 
the policy of the Open Door, but in vain. Korea, 
with the Japanese commercial interests to sup¬ 
port her, refused to have dealings with any Eu¬ 
ropean nation. Even when Commodore Shufeldt, 
in an American naval vessel, touched at the port 
of Fusan, in the hope of securing for the United 
States the same privileges which had been 
granted to Japan, he was curtly ordered away. 

Now Korea, while an independent kingdom in 
almost every respect, maintained a certain tra¬ 
ditional vassalage to China. Realizing this. 
Commodore Shufeldt went to Pekin, to study how 
best America’s friendship with the Celestial Em¬ 
pire could be used to further his mission of open¬ 
ing Korea to the western world. 

The American envoy acted with great discre¬ 
tion and firmness, shrewdly pointing out to the 
Chinese authorities that it was not fitting that 
one of her vassal kingdoms should dare to grant 
to a stranger country the privileges which it re¬ 
fused to accord to the Empire of which it was 
but a tributary. He offered the aid of the 


2o8 with the u. s. diplomats 


United States in securing these privileges from 
Korea for China, if the Chinese authorities would 
support Americans desires in the same regard. 
As China regarded the United States as her best 
friend, this diplomatic bargain was soon made. 

In 1882 Commodore Shufeldt returned to 
Korea, in company with three Chinese commis¬ 
sioners, sent by Imperial command. It was not 
possible for Korea to refuse admission to such 
envovs. She could not afford to offend the enor- 

ft/ 

mous empire to whom, moreover, she was bound 
by historic ties. Nor could she deny to China 
what she had granted to Japan. The Chinese 
commissioners held faith with Shufeldt. By this 
means the famous treaty was signed which opened 
the Japanese treaty ports in Korea to Chinese 
and American commerce. 

Shufeldt thus achieved a most important and 
peaceful diplomatic victory in Korea, compar¬ 
able only to the great triumph of Commodore 
Perry in Japan. Once more the United States 
Navy had been the means of opening an Oriental 
kingdom to the progressive methods of the mod¬ 
ern commercial world, and again this had been 
achieved without the firing of a single hostile 
shot. 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


209 


For twelve years, from that time until the close 
of the Chinese-Japanese war of 1894, the United 
States became the good genius of Korea. All 
the progressive movements: hospitals, schools, 
agricultural experiment stations, revision of the 
laws and judiciary system, and even the reorgan¬ 
ization of the army were in American hands. 
Korea—a rich country, with a valorous and 
energetic people—bade fair to become a second 
Japan. 

The treaty which ended the war of 1894, how¬ 
ever, brought about unexpected results. While 
it freed Korea from her ancient vassalage to 
China, it left the Hermit Kingdom open to ex¬ 
ploitation by Russia on the one side, and by 
Japan on the other. 

The Korean government, afraid of the grasp¬ 
ing military policy of Japan, made diplomatic 
overtures to Russia. The king even went so far 
as to grant some huge timber concessions on the 
Yalu River, embracing some hundreds of square 
miles, under conditions which were almost equiv¬ 
alent to a cession of sovereignty in that region. 

It was obvious that an act which gave Russia 
so powerful a hold on the Pacific would weaken 
the maritime advantages which had been gained 


210 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

by Japan at the outcome of the Chinese War. 
Kussia was a rival not less to be feared than 
China. Japan protested at the Yalu River con¬ 
cessions, but the Russian reply was not only 
haughtily hostile but was couched in terms of 
studied insolence, besides. 

As Japan did not yet feel herself strong enough 
to appeal to arms against such a formidable 
power as Russia was then, she had to swallow the 
insult. The Czar’s ministers, rightly interpret¬ 
ing this as weakness, continued their militaristic 
eastern policy by overrunning Manchuria to 
such an extent that Chinese sovereignty there 
, was imperiled. 

This was going too far. Although all the Eu¬ 
ropean Powers had suffered from China, during 
the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, they did not love 
Russia. This Czarist aggressiveness was felt to 
be a world-menace, while Chinese Sovereignty en¬ 
dangered no one. The United States, departing 
from her rigid rule of never make an ‘ ‘ entangling 
alliance” with any other nation, joined the Pow¬ 
ers in a defence of the Chinese claims against the 
Russians in Manchuria. 

Japan went farther. Realizing that the diplo¬ 
matic chancelleries of the world were behind her. 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


21 I 


in 1904 she presented an ultimatum to Russia, 
demanding the restoration of Manchuria to the 
Chinese and the abandonment of the Russian 
‘^sphere of interest^’ on the Yalu River in Korea. 

This ultimatum brought about the Russo- 
Japanese War of 1904. As the Trans-Siberian 
Railroad was then but a single-track line—with 
a long boat-ferry at Lake Baikal—and as all 
troops, munitions and supplies had to be con¬ 
veyed by this line, Russia was severely handi¬ 
capped. Japan won notable victories, both by 
sea and on land, and thoroughly humiliated her 
European enemy. 

Arbitration was brought about through the 
good offices of the United States, and President 
Roosevelt took a leading part in the negotiations. 
The treaty of peace, which was signed at Ports¬ 
mouth, N. H., in 1905, restored most of Man¬ 
churia to China, gave Port Arthur and Talienwan 
to Japan, and removed Korea from Russian 
domination or influence. 

The Portsmouth Treaty, though a notable ex¬ 
ample of American diplomacy, and a shining 
example of ^‘arbitration without entangling al¬ 
liance” failed in its object so far as the independ¬ 
ence of Korea was concerned. The Hermit King- 


212 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


dom, freed from vassalage to China by the war 
of 1894, and denied the right to make an alliance 
with Russia by the war of 1904, fell like a ripe 
plum into Japan’s lap. 

Almost immediately, Japanese police appeared 
in Korea ‘‘to preserve order,” preferential tar¬ 
iffs Avere extorted, anti-Japanese officials were 
dismissed and even banished, and, six months 
later, Korea had become practically a Japanese 
protectorate. The year following, the American 
minister at Seoul was withdrawn, and Korea, as 
an independent state, had ceased to exist.- 

The ill-omened American attack on the Korean 
forts, in 1871, which had been brought about by 
Jenkins’ story, had its effect in other parts of the 
world besides Korea. Although Japan was but 
newly admitted to the group of modern nations, 
she was a cultured empire and had been so for a 
couple of thousand years. Nothing is more ri¬ 
diculous or less true than to suppose that China 
and Japan began their progress only when stim¬ 
ulated by European civilization. They changed 
the character of that progress with startling sud¬ 
denness, that was all. 

At the time of Jenkins’ venture, modern com¬ 
merce, with its sordid and debasing influence, had 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


213 


not yet swamped the chivalric feelings of the 
older Japan. The Mikado, hearing of the raid 
upon the Tombs of Ping An, had sent a courteous 
message to the King of Korea, expressing con¬ 
gratulation that the ‘impious attempt at viola¬ 
tion’’ had failed, and offering to deliver the cul¬ 
prits to the Korean authorities should they be 
found and captured in the Island Empire. 

The publication of the Mikado’s message se¬ 
riously menaced the daimio of the fishing village 
in which Father Marsotte and Duncan were liv¬ 
ing. He had learned that Dorrocks, one of the 
men engaged in the violation of the Tombs of 
Ping An, actually had a home within his feudal 
domain and that his son lived there. It was, 
therefore, the Japanese noble’s duty to arrest the 
fugitive as soon as he returned to his home and 
to send him to the Mikado for deportation to 
Korea, 

On second thoughts, the daimio had seen that 
such action might not be to his own advantage. 
Since the Freischutz had sailed directly from this 
harbor to Korea, since he had allowed suspected 
foreigners to land, and since the raid on the 
tombs had been made by Christian foreigners, 
suspicion might be raised that the Japanese 


214 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

Christians were a party to the plot. Such a sus¬ 
picion would bring an unpleasant notoriety upon 
the little community of which he was the leader, 
a positive danger, indeed, since there was always 
a strong anti-Christian party at the Mikado’s 
court. 

Just at the time when the Imperial message of 
sympathy was issued, the Freischutz had been 
expected daily, and her inopportune coming had 
caused the daimio great uneasiness. The vessel 
might have been recognized, and, if so, it would 
be impossible for him to deny all knowledge of 
the matter. He gave orders, therefore, that the 
brig should be sent away the very day of her ar¬ 
rival, that no one aboard her should be allowed 
to land, and that Father Marsotte and Duncan 
should be put on board. 

Three days later, Jenkins and Dorrocks re¬ 
turned. They had been on a long trading voy¬ 
age, and had stopped at Shanghai. There Jen¬ 
kins had been arrested and tried on the charge 
of fitting out a hostile expedition” to Korea, 
but had been acquitted with the verdict ‘^not 
proven,” since there were no Korean witnesses 
to prove the identity of ship or crew. 

The Freischutz had been sighted by scouting 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


215 


fishing craft, and, as soon as she had entered the 
harbor, she had been met by the daimio^s barge, 
with the priest and Duncan aboard. Dorrocks 
and Jenkins were given an official warning that 
if either of them were seen on Japanese shores 
again, they would be handed over to the author¬ 
ities. 

Under suspicion, therefore, both at Shanghai 
and Nagasaki, China and Japan had been closed 
to the adventurers. They must seek a new field. 
Jenkins had decided to transfer his activities to 
the South Pacific, and they set sail for Samoa. 

The civil war in the islands had come to an 
end, meanwhile, but conditions there were still 
tumultuous. A German-American, who had or¬ 
iginally been sent to Samoa as an envoy from the 
United States Government, had returned to the 
islands after making his report in Washington, 
and had done a little filibustering on his own ac¬ 
count. He had become nominally the prime min¬ 
ister, but actually was the ruling spirit of the 
islands. A shifty diplomatic adventurer like 
Jenkins could be sure of finding some venture to 
his liking under such conditions. 

Steinberger, the filibustering American prime 
minister, was much too shrewd a man not to re- 


2i6 with the u. s. diplomats 


alize that the owner and the commander of the 
Freischutz were something other than mere trad¬ 
ers. He found in Jenkins a man after his own 
heart, and promptly had appointed him a mem¬ 
ber of the Council for the Islands, with consider¬ 
able opportunity for graft. 

Dorrocks, in command of the Freischutz, and 
still sailing under German papers—duly reen¬ 
dorsed by Steinberger—had continued his smug¬ 
gling voyages. Since Chinese ports were closed 
to him, he could not go back to the opium trade. 
Instead, he had devoted most of his time to run¬ 
ning liquor and firearms to the Polynesian Is¬ 
lands, using Samoa as a depot and headquarters. 

This was extremely profitable work, but it was 
so definitely against the accepted law of nations 
in the South Seas that it lay close to piracy. 
British ships were absolutely forbidden to en¬ 
gage in this traffic, and the bulk of the nefarious 
trade was done by German and American vessels. 

From very early times—from 1822, in fact— 
the principal civilizing influences in Samoa had 
been the Protestant missionaries sent out from 
England. These missionaries set themselves 
sternly against the importation of liquor and 
firearms, and, as of old, Dorrocks had found him- 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


217 


self in conflict with them. As the brig was owned 
by a member of the Island Council, the mission¬ 
aries were handicapped, but, little by little, they 
had brought the misdeeds of Steinberger, Jen¬ 
kins, Dorrocks, and their associates to the notice 
of England, then the greatest maritime power of 
the world. 

Although Samoa had been largely Christian¬ 
ized by the Protestants, there were two small 
Catholic missions in the islands, one of them in 
Apia, the capital. Father Marsotte had settled 
down in one of these, keeping Duncan with him. 
At his father ^s request, however, the priest had 
put the lad in a Protestant school, though insist¬ 
ing, for the boy^s own sake, that he should keep 
up his linguistic studies. 

In this field, Duncan had great natural advan¬ 
tages. He spoke Chinese fluently, better than 
English; during his three years in the Japanese 
village he had picked up a great deal of Japa¬ 
nese; Father Marsotte had taught him French, 
and he always spoke it at home with the priest; 
now, in Samoa, he commenced to learn the Poly¬ 
nesian tongues. 

Rarely having had any playmates of his own 
race, Duncan had been thrown in the company of 


2i8 with the u. s. diplomats 

his elders, and he had always been surrounded by 
an atmosphere of diplomatic intrigue. Jenkins 
liked the boy and took him with him, sometimes, 
on his trips to adjacent islands. As Duncan 
grew older, he became useful as an interpreter, 
all the more useful because not even the most sus¬ 
picious bargainer could suspect the young boy of 
guile. Dorrocks, too, took him often on his gun- 
running trips, and the lad picked up a good deal 
of knowledge of the methods of commerce in the 
South Seas. 

Such a situation as that which existed in Samoa 
under Steinberger could not long endure. The 
missionaries and Great Britain were working to¬ 
gether against it. It was when Duncan was ten 
years old that the storm broke over Steinberger \s 
head which led to his expulsion from the islands, * 
and, as it chanced, Duncan was the immediate 
cause of it. 

It was during the time that Duncan was living 
in the Japanese fishing village with Father Mar- 
sotte that the United.States first occupied itself 
with Samoa. American whaling vessels and fur 
vessels had often visited the islands, German and 
British traders had settled there, French war¬ 
ships had dropped anchor in Samoan ports, but. 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


219 

officially, no civilized nation had claimed owner¬ 
ship. 

In 1872, Commander Meade, in the naval 
steamer Narragansett, cruising in the South Pa¬ 
cific, entered the great harbor of Pago-Pago, in 
the island of Tutuila. He found the islands 
seething with a savage civil war. Feuds were 
raging violently, no man’s life was safe, trade 
had degenerated into a cut-throat piracy, peace¬ 
ful vessels stopping for provisions and fresh 
water were endangered. 

To make matters worse, the rival chiefs on the 
different islands were being stirred to fight by 
the German and English traders. Each faction 
sought to control the islands for its own purpose, 
and used the natives as pawns in the game. The 
German Empire was as yet new-born (though ac¬ 
tually formed six years earlier, it was the Franco- 
Prussian War of 1870-1871 which actually ce¬ 
mented it) and had not started to gain her ‘‘place 
in the sun. ’ ’ As for England, she had her hands 
full otherwhere. While, therefore, the trading 
groups were at daggers ’ points, neither one could 
get its Mother Country to take up the quarrel. 

Immediately upon the arrival of Commander 
Meade, the Head Chief of the island of Tutuila 


220 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


appealed to him for help, asserting that he had 
always heard it was the policy of the United 
States to help the weak against a bully. Espe¬ 
cially he complained to the American commander 
that the supposedly superior white race was stir¬ 
ring up enmity among the various tribes, break¬ 
ing down the laws of taboo, spreading drunken¬ 
ness, and giving firearms to savages. The 
missionaries supported the Head Chief, and, 
though most of them were British, added their 
hopes that the United States might intervene. 

Commander Meade sincerely believed in the 
future greatness of his country. A naval officer 
rather than a diplomat, he looked forward to the 
time when the United States Navy should become 
—as it has become—the dominant naval power in 
the Pacific. He saw, at once, the enormous value 
of Pago-Pago as a naval base, for it is one of the 
best harbors in the South Pacific, and, at that 
time, it was not claimed by any civilized power. 
He believed that America must have territory in 
the Orient, to defend her commercial interests. 

It is sometimes mistakenly asserted that the 
United States does not seek territorial expansion. 
Nothing could be more untrue. Her whole his¬ 
tory has been one of continuous territorial 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


221 


growth. She has gone through five foreign wars 
in a single century and gained territory by each. 
The Mississippi was secured in 1795, the Louisi¬ 
ana Purchase was in 1803, the western section 
in the Pearl River affair of 1810, the Floridas 
and the Southwest in 1819, Texas was annexed 
in 1845, Oregon in the same year, part of the New 
Mexico and Southern California were secured bv 
the Gradsden Purchase of 1848, Alaska in 1867, 
the Midway Islands in the same year, Hawaii be¬ 
came an American protectorate in 1875, the Sam¬ 
oan part of Pago-Pago became American in 1878 
and the whole island of Tutuila in 1899, Guam, 
Porto Rico and the Philippines were added at the 
end of the Spanish-American War in 1899, the 
Canal Zone of Panama in 1903, the Virgin Islands 
in 1916, while special commercial privileges have 
been the quest of the United States Government 
from the time of the Declaration of Independence 
to the World War. In addition to that, at differ¬ 
ent times the United States Government has put 
forward official plans for the annexation of Can¬ 
ada, Mexico, Salvador and Cuba, and even for 
all the islands of the West Indies. 

Knowing America’s territorial ambitions. Com¬ 
mander Meade did not hesitate. He promised 


222 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


the Head Chief of Tutuila full protection, and 
signed a formal agreement making that island a 
protectorate of the United States in return for a 
complete cession (including sovereignty) of the 
harbor of Pago-Pago and its foreshore. 

This action had its desired etfect in the islands. 
The sub-chiefs, realizing the importance of the 
alliance which the Head Chief had made, aban¬ 
doned their feuds. The German and English 
traders, not knowing the extent of the authority 
which the American naval commander might 
have been given by his government, were forced 
to keep still, as otherwise they might involve 
their respective countries in an undesired war. 

Upon receiving the report from Commander 
Meade, the Secretary of the Na\^ sent it to Pres¬ 
ident Grant, who in turn, forwarded the agree¬ 
ment to the Senate for its consideration. The 
President urged the acquisition of the harbor, but 
suggested that it might be wise to modify the 
terms suggested for the protectorate. The Sen¬ 
ate took no action in the matter, thus leaving this 
irregular diplomatic agreement in force. 

As, however, the establishment of a protector¬ 
ate is a matter falling within the domain of the 
Department of State, Secretary Hamilton Fish 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


223 


sent A. B. Steinberger as a Special Agent to re¬ 
port on conditions in Samoa, and especially on 
the island of Tutnila and its famous harbor. 
Steinberger reported most enthusiastically, and 
was sent back to Samoa by President Grant with 
letters and presents from the United States to 
the Samoan chiefs. 

The wily German-American used these letters 
to make the chiefs believe that the United States 
desired him to become their confidential adviser. 
He succeeded in getting himself appointed prime 
minister, after which he proceeded to set up a 
government in which he was practically the sole 
ruler. 

Now Jenkins, although he was just as much an 
adventurer as Steinberger, was a thoroughgoing 
American, one who believed that citizenship car¬ 
ried with it an obligation of loyalty. It was with 
ever-growing dissatisfaction that he noted Stein¬ 
berger’s constant correspondence with Berlin, 
and he objected openly to the prime minister’s 
measures for putting the commerce of the islands 
more and more' into German hands, until trade in 
Apia began to be almost a German monopoly. 

American and British resentment against 
Steinberger grew apace, but it was difficult for 


224 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

the traders to take any positive action against 
him, since both nations had recognized the inde¬ 
pendence of Samoa, and the former envoy of the 
United States had been officially appointed as 
prime minister by the king and chiefs. 

Jenkins, alone, did not fear Steinberger. He 
had prospered exceedingly, for every voyage of 
the FreiscJiiitz added to his wealth, and, while he 
had grafted freely, as any adventurer will do, he 
had done so without arousing too much antago¬ 
nism. Moreover, having been closely associated 
with Steinberger during the early years of his 
power, he knew most of the prime minister’s 
secrets. 

Never too scrupulous as to the means he em¬ 
ployed, Jenkins had intercepted Steinberger’s 
Berlin correspondence and openly taunted the 
prime minister. Soon the two men became bitter 
enemies, but Steinberger dared not dismiss the 
councillor, for fear of exposure. Jenkins took 
the side of the American Consul at Apia, and 
would have been glad to have the support of the 
missionaries, but they would have none of him. 

The friction between the two leaders came to 
a clash, one council meeting. Jenkins threat¬ 
ened to withdraw the island of Tutuila from 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


225 


Steinberger control and to set up a provisional 
government of his own until some American na¬ 
val vessel should arrive at Pago-Pago, when he 
would turn the control over to the commanding 
officer. The threat was made all the more dra¬ 
matic by Jenkins’ statement that he had in his 
possession copies of Steinberger’s letters in which 
the prime minister had promised to start a new 
civil war in the islands. Germany, having been 
informed beforehand, was to be called on for aid, 
and the naval harbor of Pago-Pago was to be 
turned over to the Kaiser, thus annulling the 
American agreement which had never become of¬ 
ficial, since the Senate had not acted in the 
matter. 

Steinberger realized that unless he could get 
rid of Jenkins, his tenure of office bade fair to be 
short, and his German plan might be defeated. 
He decided to strike at his enemy through the 
Freischutz, and to do it in such a way as to put 
Jenkins in the wrong. He might not be able to 
clear himself entirely, in the event of a scandal, 
but if he could prove his accuser to be a traitor, 
the accusation would have less force. 

In company with his German allies, he pre¬ 
pared a desperate plot. 


226 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


One evening, as Duncan came home to supper, 
he found Father Marsotte at the door watching 
for him, with a very grave face. 

‘‘What’s wrong, ‘Second Father’?” queried 
the boy anxiously. 

“Come in, Duncan,” the priest replied. 
“Come in and shut the door.” 

Wonderingly, the youngster obeyed. 

“Now, begin your supper, and listen while you 
eat.” 

The priest paused until Duncan had seated 
himself at the table, and then continued: 

“One of my choristers, a German boy, has just 
told me an extraordinary story. It seems hardly 
credible, but the lad could never have invented it. 
If true, a malignant and deadly plot has been 
made to take your father’s life.” 

“Murder?” 

“Yes, it amounts to that.” 

The boy halted with poised fork: 

“Steinberger’s doings, I suppose?” 

“Undoubtedly. Now, you know more about 
sailing distances and such things than I do. How 
soon do you think your father ought to come 
back? You have been keeping a calendar, I 
know. ’ ’ 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


227 


‘‘Yes, I have. I was looking at it this morn¬ 
ing. Daddy ought to be home almost any day, 
now. ^ ’ 

“Before he left, did he tell you that he was not 
going to Calcutta for cargo, as was announced, 
but was bound for San Francisco, instead 

“Yes, I knew that.’^ 

“Do you know why he went to San Francisco 

“No, he didn^t tell me. Has it anything to do 
with this murder plot?’’ 

“A great deal. I think I had better inform 
you, myself. Mr. Jenkins sent your father to the 
United States with copies of Steinberger’s let¬ 
ters. On his arrival in San Francisco he was to 
take the new trans-continental railroad to Wash¬ 
ington to see the diplomatic authorities there, and 
expose the German’s plotting. No one on the is¬ 
land was supposed to know this political move, 
but the news has leaked out, somehow. 

“Now, Steinberger is in terror lest the Freis- 
chuts should arrive suddenly and bring news of 
America’s intention to renew her control. Ac¬ 
cording to information collected by Jenkins and 
which is in the papers sent to Washington, Stein¬ 
berger has made a secret arrangement with Ger¬ 
many. ’ ’ 


228 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


‘‘To turn over Pago-Pago?’’ The boy nodded 
wisely. “I got hold of that one day when I was 
doing some translation for Mr. Jenkins. 

“Exactly. Well, this agreement is due to be 
settled in a couple of weeks or so. If it should 
be actually completed, then the United States 
would be confronted with what diplomats call a 
fait accompli, always a difficult matter to change. 
Pago-Pago would be lost. 

“But how can American interference stop the 
prime minister, now?’’ 

“Perhaps it cannot, but if the FreiscJiids 
should bring positive news, all the factions on 
the island which are opposed to Steinberger could 
combine to head otf the Civil War, and delay the 
transfer. Therefore, at any risk and at any cost, 
an effort is to be made to stop the ship.” 

“How?” 

“By sinking her with every one on board!” 

“What! Sink the FreiscJiutz!^^ 

“Yes, that is the plan, according to what this 
chorister boy said. It was mere family conver¬ 
sation around the dinner-table that he was repeat¬ 
ing, doing so, I think, with the idea of showing 
off how clever he was in knowing state secrets. 
If I were to tell you the boy’s name, you would 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


229 

recognize it as that of one of the leading German 
families here.’^ 

“But that must be wrong, ^Second FatherM 
How could any one sink the brig? The Freis- 
chutz can take care of herself against any fort on 
this island. You remember how she smashed up 
the pirate junk!’’ 

“The plotters do not intend to use the forts,” 
the priest explained. “That would betray them 
at once. To be successful, the plan must be ab¬ 
solutely secret. The vessel must be sent to the 
bottom without any suspicion that her destruc¬ 
tion was intentional.” 

“How can they do it? Scuttle the ship? If 
they were going to do that, there must be some 
conspirator on board. And if that was the idea, 
they ought to have done it before the FreiscJiutz 
reached America. We know she did get there, 
for I had a letter from Daddy, sent from San 
Francisco. You know, the one that came in the 
diplomatic mail, so that no one in the post office 
here would know,, where he was.” 

“To scuttle the ship would have been the eas¬ 
iest plan, but the Germans knew nothing about 
the Freischutz^ plans when she sailed from here. 
Steinberger seems to have found out your fa- 


230 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

ther’s errand only recently. That was his diffi¬ 
culty. How was he to wreck a vessel at sea and 
do it secretly? As you said yourself, Duncan, 
the brig’s guns are powerful and well handled. 
There is no ship here which dare attack her. But 
Steinberger is a clever ruffian. He and his asso¬ 
ciates have found a way. 

‘‘Listen carefully, my boy, and I’ll tell you all 
I know about the plot. Do you know where 
Needle Channel lies, somewhere out beyond Ful- 
gon Reef?” 

“Of course. I’ve gone fishing there, often.” 

“I understand it is quite narrow?” 

“Only a couple of cable’s lengths across.” 

“So I thought. Nearly all ships coming to 
Samoa use that channel, do they not ? ’ ’ 

“All of them, now. There’s Goose Channel, to 
the south’ard, which the whalers used, long ago, 
but that’s a long way round and isn’t so well 
buoyed. Hardly any ships come that way, any 
more.” 

“So Needle Channel is the key to Samoa. Well, 
Steinberger and his friends have manufactured 
some kind of floating bombs—the boy didn’t seem 
to know what they were like, at all—and they 
have placed a line of them right across the en- 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


231 

trance of Needle Channel. These bombs are so 
close together that no ship can get through the 
line without striking one or more of them. 

‘‘When the Freischutz sails into this Channel, 
between the buoys, she will strike a bomb—or 
perhaps two—which will blow a hole in her bow. 
As she is loaded with cargo from America—ma¬ 
chinery and the like—she will go down with all 
on board. You know how the surf rages around 
Fulgon Reef! 

“If there should be any question or inquiry, 
Steinberger will claim that the accident is a proof 
that Jenkins was bringing high explosives to the 
islands, which is illegal. By that means, suspi¬ 
cion will be diverted. 

“There are probably a good many more details 
to the plot, Duncan, but that was all the chorister 
could tell me. ’ ’ 

“But it^s a crimecried the boy, indignantly. 
“That canT be true! The Council would never 
stand for it!’’ 

“It will never know.” 

“You tell the members, then, ‘Second Father,^ 
and stop it. They’ll believe you.” 

“The Council does not meet for two weeks, and 
the ship is almost sure to be here before that 



232 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

time, so that would not help. For another thing. 
I have no proofs. The gossip of a hoy is not evi¬ 
dence.’’ 

^‘Does Jenkins know about it?” 

^^No. He is on Tutuila. I only learned about 
the plot this afternoon.” 

“What’s to be done, then!” 

“Your father must be warned to keep out of 
Needle Channel. If he comes in by Goose Chan¬ 
nel, he will be safe.” 

The boy frowned. 

^ ‘ He won’t. He never does. ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ He must, this time; he will, if some one warns 
him. ’ ’ 

“But how can we get a message to him in the 
middle of the sea?” 

“It is difficult, if not impossible. But he 
might be stopped just outside Needle Channel. 
He could be warned, if some one was waiting 
there.” 

“You mean in a boat?” 

“I mean—in your boat!” answered the priest, 
pointedly. 

Duncan started to his feet, almost knocking 
over the table in his excitement. 

“You mean I ought to go out there and warn 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


233 


him'F Ass that I am! Why didn^t I see it right 
away? Of course! Idl go smack now! IVe 
finished supper P’ 

^‘We will both go/’ corrected Father Marsotte. 
have all ready, food, water, flags, rocket sig¬ 
nals, everything.” 

You, ‘Second Father’? But you hate going in 
a boat!” 

“What has that to do with it? The boat is 
ready, I suppose?” 

“Riding to a line in the little harbor. I can 
get her out in two minutes. Shall I go?” 

“At once, I think, and I will follow you. Take 
one of the bundles, the smaller one.” 

Duncan did not hesitate. Seizing his hat, he 
raced at full speed to the boat-harbor, while 
Father Marsotte walked at his best pace after 
him, giving evasive answers to passers-by, when 
asked where he was going. 

A few minutes later—less than an hour from 
the time that Duncan had returned from school 
—the two were in the boat, sailing towards Needle 
Channel before a stiff breeze. 

“Why did you come, ‘Second Father’?” quer¬ 
ied the lad, when they were well away from the 
harbor, and he had time to think. “I can handle 


234 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

this boat alone, you know. IVe gone out alone, 
heaps of times. And you always get seasick.’^ 

‘T did not come as a boatman,’^ the priest re¬ 
plied, smiling wanly, for the skitf was pitching 
roughly, ^‘but as a watcher, my boy. You think, 
now, that you could keep awake all night, but, at 
your age, sleep is difficult to resist. We may 
have to wait a day or two, perhaps even a week. 
You could not stay aw^ake all the time. Even a 
seasick man can keep watch.’’ 

^‘But we can anchor out there,” the boy pro¬ 
tested. ”You know the Black Hog Shoal ? 
That’s near enough to Needle Channel for us to 
see a ship coming in, and I could take little cat- 
naps^ ’ ’ 

”We will take watch and watch,” the priest in¬ 
sisted. ”And, Duncan,” he added, ‘‘don’t go 
through the Channel too fast. If those bombs 
are as touchy as I think they are, we might strike 
one and go down ourselves.” 

‘‘Jiminy! I hadn’t thought of that! I’ll 
triple-reef!” 

He ran the little sail down and tied the reef- 
points hastily but firmly. The skitf slowed her 
pace until she was barely crawling through the 
water. 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


235 


They sailed thus, for half an hour, the dusk 
gradually creeping upon them, when the boy, who 
had the keener sight, touched the priest on the 
arm. 

‘^What’s that on the water, ‘Second Father’P’ 

“The bombs? Yes! There they are!” 

A few black blobs barely showed on the sur¬ 
face. Had the skiff being going fast, or had they 
reached the place a few minutes later, when it 
would be entirely dark, there might have been a 
catastrophe. 

The sail was run down, and both priest and 
boy peered through the gathering darkness at 
these menacing iron balls. 

“TheyYe mighty close together!” the lad 
agreed. 

“Perhaps, going as slowly as this, we might 
push the bombs aside without exploding them?” 

Duncan shook his head thoughtfully. 

“If they Ye as touchy as you say, we’d better 
not risk it. The sea is bobby enough to make us 
give one of them a sharp crack. No, I’ll swim.” 

“To cut the rope holding the bombs?” 

“That’s an idea! No,” he added, looking 
steadily ahead, “it’s a chain. Anyway, “Sec¬ 
ond Father,’ I’d rather leave the whole business 


236 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

alone, if I can. Ill find out how far the bombs 
reach. They’re not likely to have put them out¬ 
side the buoys, because a ship wouldn’t go there, 
and there’s water enough on the edge of the reefs 
for a boat this size. Drop the sail, ‘Second 
Father,’ and let her drift. I’ll be back in a few 
minutes.” 

Duncan was a good swimmer and it was not 
long before he was back and aboard again. 

As he had expected, the chain of bombs was 
laid inside the channel marks. 

The little boat, at snail’s pace, was set on her 
course again. She nosed to the outside of the 
buoy, and, with but a few inches of water under 
her keel, won over the reef to the sea beyond, 
making for the proposed anchorage near the 
Black Rock Shoal. 

Suddenly, almost upon them, it seemed, for the 
early .dark was deceiving, Duncan saw the red 
and green lights, and the pale-gray sails of a ship 
coming directly bow on. It was with difficulty, 
even, that the lad could distinguish that the on- 
comer was a brig. 

‘ ‘ Quick! The rocket! ” he cried. 

But the priest had seen the vessel, also. The 


A DEEP-SEA TRAP 


237 

words had not left the hoy’s lips when the blue 
light flared high. 

Ship and boat drove straight for each other. 

Rising at the tiller, the boy yelled with all his 
might: 

^^Freischutz ahoy!” 

And, as a foim outlined itself on the poop rail, 
he shouted: 

“Hard over. Daddy! Hard over! Quick! 
Trouble right ahead! ’ ’ 

Dorrocks leaped to the wheel and spun it round, 
at the same instant bellowing an order that the 
outer jib should be run up, and the gaff topsail 
let down with a run. 

The speed of the maneuver was none too quick, 
for the bottom of the Freiscliutz was foul with 
barnacles from long sailing in the South Seas, 
and she was logy in her movements. 

Slowly, all too slowly, she began to answer to 
her helm. 

Duncan watched, in an agony of fear, for he 
knew how closely death was lurking. 

So close was the brig that, as she turned her 
beam to the chain of bombs, the wash from her 
cutwater set the black balls of death dancing on 


238 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

the water. It was touch-and-go, still, for the en¬ 
trance to the channel was bordered with reefs, 
but the Freischuts won by and cleared for the 
open sea. 

Above the rhythmic pounding of the surf and 
the creaking of the laboring ship, the boy^s shout 
of triumph rang clear and high, 

‘‘WeVe beaten them. Daddy! WeVe beaten 
them! 



Wharf of German Firm, Apia. 

From Samoa ’Uma” by Lleioella P. Churchill. Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 


















Trenton Yandalia Nipsic Olga 


Courtesy ofHarper's Youny People." 

SCKNES IN THE HaRBOR OF ApIA AFTER THE HURRICANE. 

(From photographs.) 




















CHAPTER VII 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 

Steinberger had been right to fear the coming 
of the FreiscJiutz. When the brig sailed through 
Goose Channel, with Father Marsotte and Dun¬ 
can on board, and cast anchor in the harbor of 
Apia, the wily prime minister watched her ar¬ 
rival with dread and hate. He did not know, as 
yet, that his plans had been exposed, but only 
supposed that some evil chance had led the cap¬ 
tain of the brig to use the unprotected channel. 

In truth, Dorrocks^ return was the forerunner 
of Steinberger’s downfall. The former opium- 
smuggler had learned all the details of the plot 
to blow up his ship and he was not the kind of 
man to allow an enemy too much leeway. The 
prime minister might be certain that he had 
aroused an implacable foe. 

Besides, Dorrocks had brought important news. 
Although he had visited Washington as a private 

citizen, and in no sense as a diplomatic envoy, he 

239 


240 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

had been received with courtesy and considera¬ 
tion. The letters which he had borne from Jen¬ 
kins revealing Steinberger ^s plot to turn over 
Pago-Pago to Germany had awakened a great 
deal of indignation in official and naval circles. 

Since the State Department could not officially 
take action upon a matter which it had not 
learned officially, it could not authorize Dorrocks, 
upon his return, to act in the name of the United 
States. The President, indeed, could have done 
so, but Dorrocks’ antecedents as an opium-smug¬ 
gler did not commend him. 

The Secretary of State could, and did, promise 
the captain verbally that immediate action should 
be taken with regard to Samoa. By the Freis- 
chutz he sent written instructions to the Ameri¬ 
can Consul, giving him temporary diplomatic 
powers in the event of any German action tend¬ 
ing to annul Commander Meade’s agreement con¬ 
cerning Pago-Pago. The British Ambassador at 
Washington, who was unofficially informed of the 
Steinberger matter, also notified his country’s 
Consul at Apia what course he might pursue. 

Immediately after the return of the Freischutz, 
Jenkins was summoned from Tutuila by the 
American Consul, and plans for crippling Stein- 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 241 

berger were set on foot immediately. The plot 
of arousing a civil war in the islands was nipped 
in the bud by the simple method of letting the 
rival chiefs know that Steinberger was playing 
them false for his own purposes. 

As the American and British consuls were 
working together, with the full force of the mis¬ 
sionaries behind them, the King and Chiefs of 
Samoa began to realize that their prime minister 
was not as important as he had made himself out 
to be. Steinberger’s angry fears told against 
him heavily. 

^Tf Germany is so much the most powerful 
country in the world, as you have told us,’^ they 
said to him, ‘^why are you afraid of the British 
and American nations ? ^ ^ 

To this question Steinberger found it hard to 
make a fitting reply. 

The German traders, too, realizing that the 
power of the prime minister was on the wane, 
held aloof from him. Like rats, they were ready 
to desert a sinking ship. Any one of them was 
willing to split and tell the whole story of the 
plot, if only his own business interests did not 
suffer. 

Less than a month later, when Steinberger’s 


242 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

power had become nothing but a shadow and a 
name, a British man-o^-war sailed into the har¬ 
bor of Apia. On board was a British Special 
Commissioner, who had received instruction to 
confer with the King and Chiefs of Samoa, after 
having investigated conditions in the islands. 

The investigation was short and sharp. 

Jenkins, with his inner knowledge of Stein- 
berger^s secrets, was able to reveal that the 
prime minister had long been working against 
both British and American interests, in defiance 
of treaty rights. Father Marsotte repeated the 
story of the plot, as it had been outlined to him. 
Duncan told of the finding of the bombs. Dor- 
rocks described how he had been warned, and 
added the information that he had gone to Needle 
Channel, the very day of his arrival, loosened the 
chain of bombs and towed them to a hiding-place 
on the reef. At great personal risk he had de¬ 
tached the percussion cap from one of them, and 
he produced it in evidence. The maker of the 
bombs had been found, and he admitted that 
Steinberger had paid him. The evidence was 
complete. 

Together with the American Consul, the Brit¬ 
ish Commissioner had audience with the King 



THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 243 

and Chiefs. At the request of the Powers, the 
King gladly deposed the prime minister, and 
added, on his own account, that he would chain 
Steinberger to a sunken rock in shark-infested 
waters. 

This was going a bit too far for civilized peo¬ 
ples, and it took a great deal of diplomatic fenc¬ 
ing to save Steinberger from the sharks. Unwill¬ 
ingly the King and Chiefs agreed to mitigate this 
sentence to perpetual banishment, and the former 
prime minister was deported in the British man- 
o ’-war. 

He never came back to Samoa, indeed, but he 
reappeared in Polynesia, where he divided his 
time between a low-grade piracy and levying 
blackmail on traders in the Caroline Islands. 

On hearing of his enemy’s activities, Dorrocks 
—who had strongly supported the plan of giving 
Steinberger to the sharks—immediately found 
that he had important business in the Carolines, 
and set off on the Frelschutz with a plentiful sup¬ 
ply of ammunition. He announced his purpose 
as a trading voyage, but every one believed that 
his business was to pay off old scores on the man 
who had tried to blow up his ship. He refused to 
allow Duncan to go with him. Upon his return 


244 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

Dorrocks made no reference to what had hap¬ 
pened in the Carolines, but Steinberger troubled 
the South Seas no more. 

Duncan, though only ten years old, acquitted 
himself very creditably in the Official Inquiry. 
The British Commissioner, at the close of the 
boy’s evidence, made a short speech handsomely 
approving the lad’s conduct in saving Captain 
Dorrocks. The American Secretary of the Navy 
sent him a personal letter for his efforts in hav¬ 
ing helped to keep Pago-Pago from falling into 
German hands. The King and Chiefs of Samoa 
gave him a taboo stick—a black staff with a white 
ball on the top, carved with taro leaves—as a sign 
of royal appreciation for ‘^having saved the 
honor of Samoa from being clouded with a foul 
sea crime. ’ ’ 

It would have been easy for a lad of Duncan’s 
age to become vain over his achievements, but 
Father Marsotte was ever with him and kept his 
head level. His father, too, anxious that Duncan 
should not be too deeply bitten with a desire for 
roving venture, aided the priest to keep the boy 
steadily at his linguistic tasks. 

When he was ready to leave the island school, 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 245 

a few years later, Father Marsotte and Dorrocks 
decided that the time had come to carry their 
plans into effect. They went to the American 
Consulate and urged that the lad should be ac¬ 
cepted there as an interpreter and clerk, since, 
in the South Seas, bad habits infallibly follow 
idleness. 

The American Consul, who knew and liked the 
young fellow, and who was aware of the father’s 
hopes for Duncan’s future, approved heartily. 
A month later, the boy entered the Consular Serv¬ 
ice. There was much to be done, for the political 
situation in the islands had again lapsed into a 
desperate state. 

After Steinberger’s fall, which the chiefs rightly 
regarded as having been primarily caused by the 
American element, the King and Chiefs looked to 
the United States to give them the stable form of 
government which the late prime minister had 
promised them from Germany. None was forth¬ 
coming. The political parties in America were, 
as always, in a turmoil, and neither cared to take 
any definite action for a place so far away as 
Samoa. 

Despairing of help from America, in 1877 the 


246 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

Chiefs sent a deputation to Fiji, to ask the Brit¬ 
ish authorities there to assume a sort of parental 
control of the islands. 

While, undoubtedly, the British would have 
liked to do so, too prompt an acceptance might 
have brought inteniational trouble; Germany had 
interests in Samoa, and England and Germany 
had a secret agreement as to their respective 
^‘spheres of interest^’ in the South Seas. Be¬ 
sides, Fijian officials had not the authority to act 
in so grave a matter, which could only be decided 
by the Home Government. Their answer, there¬ 
fore, was vague and indecisive, though they af¬ 
firmed definitely that they could not and would 
not interfere in Samoa without definite instruc¬ 
tions from England. 

Dissatisfied with this half-hearted answer from 
Fiji, the Chiefs approached the United States 
anew, sending a diplomatic envoy to Washington 
to seek a definite protectorate. As before, the 
Senate was afraid of the word, feeling that the 
American people would disapprove. Instead, a 
commercial treaty was signed in 1878 , by which 
the harbor of Pago-Pago was definitely conceded 
to the United States as a naval station, in return 
for a guarantee of commercial protection. 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 247 

The year following, similar treaties were signed 
with Samoa by Germany and Great Britain, and 
the independence of Samoa was formally recog¬ 
nized by these three powers, each of which under¬ 
took to support the native government of the 
islands. In 1879 , the American, British and Ger¬ 
man Consuls made a Convention with the King 
and Chiefs of Samoa, gnaranteeing certain finan¬ 
cial assistance in return for local trade privileges, 
and providing a municipal government for Apia, 
the chief town of the islands. 

This plan, which was designed to promote 
peace, only sowed discord and wrangling. The 
three Consulates were at daggers^ points. Ger¬ 
many wished to reap the benefits of Steinberger’s 
regime. Great Britain was annoyed with the 
United States because the offer of a protectorate 
had been made first to Fiji and America had se¬ 
cured Pago-Pago through a commercial treaty be¬ 
fore the Home Government had acted upon the 
Fijian offer. America, in possession of the naval 
station, opposed the absorption of Samoan trade 
by German interests, and also resented England’s 
unwillingness to admit the validity of the cession 
of Pago-Pago to the United States. 

Treachery was rife, everywhere. Loyalty was 


248 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

at a premium. When Father Marsotte and Dor- 
rocks suggested the employment of Duncan, the 
American Consul leaped at the suggestion. 
Young though the boy was, he had the confidence 
of the chiefs, and he was enormously popular in 
the islands. To crown all, he spoke Samoan like 
a native, as well as Chinese and Japanese, Eng¬ 
lish and French. His one handicap was that he 
did not know German. 

To make the situation on the islands even 
worse, civil war was brewing again, and the three 
Powers were supporting three several aspirants 
to the Samoan throne. The old king had died 
during the last years of Duncan ’s schooling, and, 
when the boy entered the Consulate, Malietoa was 
the recognized king. Following its declared pol¬ 
icy of allowing independent nations to choose 
their rulers for themselves (a policy not always 
followed, as for example in the case of Huerta, 
in Mexico), the Americans supported Malietoa. 
There were two rival aspirants to the throne: 
Tamasese, who had the German backing, and 
Mataafa, who was looked upon favorably by the 
British. 

Day by day, all through the summer of 1881 , 
the situation grew more tense, till no man knew 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 249 

where the serious trouble would break out first. 
The crisis came at last. 

One blazing hot night, Duncan came rushing 
through the streets of Apia to the house of the 
American Consul. He was too excited to wait on 
ceremony, but pushed open the unlocked door and 
burst into his superior’s bedroom. 

He brought news that a British gunboat had 
dropped anchor in the harbor the day before, and 
that a party of sailors had come ashore in the 
evening. One of these men, who had imbibed na¬ 
tive rum too freely and had not been willing to 
pay his bill, had drunkenly laughed at the rum- 
seller’s demands for payment, declaring that on 
the following day all his store of liquors would be 
seized by the English, as the gunboat had come to 
Samoa to make it a British possession. The 
transfer, he had blurted out, was to take place at 
eight o’clock in the morning. 

The rumseller, who, like most of the Samoans, 
looked to the Americans for fair play, had come 
and told Duncan the story. He wanted to know 
whether he should take away all his goods and 
secrete them, or whether he could depend upon 
the United States for protection. 

On hearing of this proposed political trick, the 


250 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

American Consul did not hesitate for an instant. 
He jumped out of bed and sent Duncan to get the 
largest American flag to be found in the Con¬ 
sulate. Meantime, he routed up an officer of the 
native troops and a handful of men, with a light 
field-gun, and gathered such Samoan officials as 
could he found at a momenCs notice. 

With this party as witnesses, the Consul and 
Duncan hurried to the Council House, for, as the 
King was not in residence in Apia at that time, 
the royal palace was unoccupied. Exactly at sun¬ 
rise, the American official ran up the Stars and 
Stripes on a flagstaff at one end of the Council 
House, and the Samoan flag at the other. The 
field-gun then fired a salute, which could not fail 
to be heard by the officers on board the British 
gunboat lying in the harbor. 

Then—entirely unofficially, of course—Duncan 
passed the news to native boatmen who were go¬ 
ing out to the gunboat with stores, so that the 
British naval commander might have an oppor¬ 
tunity to learn the meaning of the salute without 
any responsible person having appeared in the 
matter. 

In order to avoid any suspicion that the Ameri- 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 251 

cans were aware of the British plot, the Consul 
gave out that he had taken this action to prevent 
an outbreak of rebellion, supposed to be headed 
by Tamasese. The raising of the flag, however, 
was clear evidence that America was ready to act 
for the protection of the native government, ac¬ 
cording to treaty rights. 

Whether the commander of the British gunboat 
actually had orders to seize the island was never 
absolutely known, for no bluejackets were landed 
that day and no aggressive action was taken. In¬ 
deed, there was none that could have been made 
after the ConsuPs coup d^etat, for certainly the 
British naval officer would have gone beyond his 
rights had he dared to haul down the American 
flag. After a few day^s delay, the gunboat sailed 
away. Later, secret diplomatic information 
seemed to confirm the drunken bluejacket’s story 
and the Consul’s action was officially commended. 

Two years later, a somewhat similar attempt 
on the part of the Germans was frustrated in the 
same manner, the informant in this case being 
King Malietoa himself. By the monarch’s own 
request, the Stars and Stripes was run up over 
the royal palace. The net result of these two in- 



252 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

cidents was that the Samoans came to regard the 
United States as the natural protector of their 
rights. 

This American insistence on maintaining na¬ 
tive independence against the encroachments of 
the other two Powers caused had blood between 
the foreign colonies and diplomatic quarrelling 
reached almost to the point of actual conflict. 
Plot and counterplot, intrigue and cross-intrigue 
followed close on each other ^s heels. Duncan was 
necessarily in the very thick of it, and a diary of 
the young fellow’s life during those years would 
come close to being a histoiy of that tangled time. 

To make matters worse, the native conspiracy 
under Tamasese, which was secretly fostered by 
the Germans, took on a more and more bloody 
character. As the American Consul could not 
openly act in native civil strife without imbroil- 
ing his government, Jenkins and Duncan were 
kept busy checkmating the German plans. So 
effective was their work that three different re¬ 
volts started by Tamasese were quickly put down, 
though not without serious loss of life. 

Finally, in 1885 , the German Consul, on the 
claim that German interests were being threat- 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 253 

ened by King Malietoa—which really meant by 
the Americans in Samoa—arbitrarily assumed 
control of island affairs in the name of his gov¬ 
ernment, and raised the German flag in evidence 
of the exercise of sovereignty. 

This move was quickly answered by the Ameri¬ 
can Consul, who not only raised his flag in turn, 
but also issued a proclamation declaring an 
American protectorate over the islands. 

Had the actions of the two opposing consuls 
been supported by their respective governments, 
this clash could have meant nothing less than war 
between the United States and Germany. As 
neither nation regarded Samoa as a matter of 
sufficient importance to bring about war, both 
governments disavowed the acts of their consuls, 
and the status quo, or ‘^continuance of existing 
conditions’’ was resumed. 

The year following, thanks to one of Jenkins’ 
friends, an adventurer of his own stripe, a new 
problem entered into Samoan affairs. This was 
the alliance with Hawaii. It began in the stran¬ 
gest way. 

King Kalakaua, of Hawaii, at that time had as 
his prime minister an adventurer of extraordi- 


254 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

nary versatility and fiery eloquence, known to his¬ 
tory as ‘‘Turncoat’^ Gibson. The man’s career 
was an amazing one. 

He claimed to be the heir of an English noble 
family, and asserted that he had been dispos¬ 
sessed of his title and his estates by fraud. He 
was certainly well educated and had a natural 
capacity for ruling, though a certain bitterness 
against his own race often ruined all the good he 
did. 

After sundry adventures in India and Burmah, 
where he preached native revolt until the military 
authorities made it too hot for him, he found his 
way to Java. 

There Gibson’s gift for dealing with natives 
got him into serious trouble. He commenced stir¬ 
ring up sentiment among the Javanese to demand 
greater native privileges and electoral representa¬ 
tion on the Council, evidently with the intention 
of becoming that representative himself. The 
Dutch, however, had no illusions about native de¬ 
mocracies, nor was their sturdy common sense 
affected by the adventurer’s fine speeches. They 
simply clapped him into jail. 

After some months of imprisonment he escaped 
or was released (the official reports differ) and 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 255 

made his way to the United States, finally reach¬ 
ing Salt Lake City, where he became a Mormon. 
Gibson had a positive genius for pushing himself 
forward, and, in a very few years, thanks to his 
power of oratory, he was made an Apostle.” 
At his own suggestion, Brigham Young sent him 
to Hawaii to take charge of the affairs of the 
‘^Saints” there, and to spread the doctrines of 
Mormonism. 

As soon as Gibson arrived in Hawaii, he turned 
his attention to the best manner of ingratiating 
himself with the natives. He declared that Mor¬ 
monism substituted a legalized polygamy for the 
free-and-easy morals of the islands, and an¬ 
nounced far and wide that a Hawaiian mistress, 
as soon as she embraced Mormonism, possessed 
legal rights equal to those of a white wife. This 
policy gained him the adoring friendship of all 
the native women of the islands, as well as hun¬ 
dreds of feminine converts. The ^‘Saints” find¬ 
ing their reputation injured by this sudden influx 
into their ranks of hundreds of easy-mannered 
Hawaiian girls, hunted up the record of their 
‘^Apostle” and exposed him as an adventurer. 

Upon the publication of this discovery, Gib¬ 
son turned Protestant. He had made himself 


256 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

wealthy-—largely by several loose matrimonial 
alliances with daughters of rich sugar-growers— 
and he gave to missions and hospitals with a free 
hand, hoping, by this means, to secure the whip 
hand over the missionaries. It was an up-hill 
task, for the Protestant ministers were an honest 
and clean-living lot, and they soon had enough of 
him. 

Gibson’s next religious venture was as a Roman 
Catholic. He made a spectacular conversion, 
and soon became a leader of the native Roman 
Church. The Catholic hierarchy fought shy of 
him, however, though it used him for its own 
ends. He was never a man to be ignored. For 
good or ill, his energies were tremendous. Lay¬ 
man though he was, Gibson made more converts 
in one year than any missionary priest had done 
in ten. Moreover, as he was the active and loud- 
voiced champion of the native priests against 
what they regarded as the spiritual arrogance of 
educated ecclesiastics, whole congregations of 
Hawaiians adopted him as their defender. 

What with one thing and another, the wily ad¬ 
venturer succeeded in gaining the confidence of 
the king, and, with his ability to get hold of money 
in shifty ways, he suggested many schemes where- 



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THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 257 

by the royal treasury might be kept well tilled. 
King Kalakaua, an amiable and convivial mon¬ 
arch, rewarded his ingenious adviser with the 
post of prime minister. 

Thanks to the reciprocity treaty of 1876 with 
the United States, Hawaii was extremely rich at 
that time, and King Kalakaua, who was tilled with 
a sense of his own importance, looked for a larger 
empire to rule. Although the wealth of his tiny 
kingdom was due to the fact that it was prac¬ 
tically a protectorate of the United States, this 
did not prevent the Hawaiian monarch from mak¬ 
ing a considerable splash. He made a tour of the 
world and was received in the United States and 
by the crowned heads of Europe and of Asia as a 
royal person of some importance. It was shortly 
after his return that Jenkins visited Hawaii in 
the Freischutz and suggested to Gibson that an 
alliance with Samoa could be turned to mutual 
profit, for their own pockets. 

Upon his return, puifed up by these favors, he 
conceived the ambitious project of becoming Head 
King of Polynesia. In 1883 he had the audacity 
to protest to Great Britain and to France against 
their seizure of certain islands in the South 
Seas, although he had no concern with them. 


258 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

Gibson, following Jenkins’ lead, suggested the al¬ 
liance with Samoa, and the King agreed, hoping 
to gobble it up later, if possible. 

The principal difficulty, in the sending of an 
embassy to the Samoan king was the question of 
what vessel should carry the envoys in fitting 
state, for the solitary ship of the Hawaiian navy, 
the Kaimiloa, was old, small and mean-looking. 
Gibson settled this point in a characteristic way. 
He explained to King Kalakaua that a cargo of 
cases of whiskey, rum, and fine wfines would be 
more potent to secure an alliance than even the 
most pretentious ship of war. As he shrewdly 
observed, the Samoans were accustomed to seeing 
great battleships in the harbor of Pago-Pago, but 
they were not accustomed to the effects of good 
liquor. 

The voyage of the Kaimiloa came close to dis¬ 
aster. The crew mutinied on the way, because of 
insufficient food rations, and the only method 
whereby the embassy was able to reach Samoa 
was by serving out liquor in large enough quanti¬ 
ties to keep the mutineers in a constant state of 
good-humored drunkenness. 

When the Hawaiian navy reached Apia, and 
dropped her single anchor in the harbor, there 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 259 

were hardly enough sober men aboard to work 
the vessel. Upon landing, however, the embassy 
established itself in the capital in most extrava¬ 
gant style and began to endeavor to impress the 
Samoans with a sense of the wealth of Hawaii. 

As this alliance was solely a question between 
Samoa and Hawaii, the Consuls of the Powers 
were not officially concerned. At Jenkins’ sug¬ 
gestion, King Malietoa asked the American Con¬ 
sul for the assistance of Duncan, during the nego¬ 
tiations. Though still only a young fellow, he 
was regarded as the keenest student of political 
conditions on the islands. Since both sides were 
equally desirous of agreement, the terms of the 
alliance were not difficult to arrange, and, after 
a week or two of conferences, the treaty was 
signed. 

The signing of the Pact of Alliance was cele¬ 
brated by a most elaborate banquet, for which 
the Hawaiian embassy produced a larger quan¬ 
tity of liquor than had ever been beheld by Sa¬ 
moans before. The feast continued all the night 
long, and, when the morning dawned, twenty- 
seven of the thirty Samoan chiefs were found 
dead drunk upon the floor, and had to be carried 
to their homes. 


26 o with the u. s. diplomats 


King Malietoa, who had deemed it beneath his 
royal dignity to attend the banquet, was furious 
at the news of this orgy. The very next day he 
sent for the Hawaiian ambassador and warned 
him straitly that a repetition of such conduct 
would cause him to annul the treaty, adding: 

‘Tf an alliance with your country means that 
you have come to teach my people to drink, I wish 
you had stayed away. As I have signed the 
treaty, I shall keep my word, but I shall send an 
envoy to your king demanding that he send brave 
men, not drunkards, to my court 1 ^ ’ 

Knowing King Malietoa’s precipitate and un¬ 
certain temper, and fearing that the Samoan mes¬ 
senger might arrive in Hawaii before them and 
bring the story of their misdoings before they re¬ 
turned with the treaty, the members of the Ha¬ 
waiian embassy prepared to leave at once. 

But, in their eagerness for display, they had 
not reckoned with the cost of their extravagant 
banquets, nor yet with the exorbitant prices 
which the white traders had charged them. When 
the embassy was ready to go, it had an array of 
debts far beyond its power to pay. The whole 
Hawaiian navy had to be put in pawn to a Her- 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 261 

man banker in order that its embassy might get 
home. 

A few days after the departure of the Kaimiloa 
King Malietoa sent for Duncan and Jenkins. 
The audience was given, not in the new palace of 
stone which had been built since the islands had 
become wealthy under the influence of trade, but 
in the long grass-built Chief’s royal hut which 
had been turned into a Council House. 

In addition to the king, there were present a 
dozen of the leading chiefs from the neighboring 
islands. The proceedings were marked with 
great dignity, for the Polynesians are gifted by 
nature with fine manners, and possess a natural 
eloquence. 

‘‘It is our royal pleasure,” King Malietoa 
began, “to summon you here for counsel concern¬ 
ing the wisdom of sending some of our G-reat Ones 
to the King of Hawaii to tell him of our royal 
willingness for the Alliance, and to place our 
words of displeasure in his ears because of the 
drunken behavior of his messengers. Speak, 
Great Ones of the Islands, which among you 
think it wise?” 

A long discussion followed, at the close of 


262 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


which the chiefs agreed that a deputation should 
be sent, but, since the envoys would be the 
personal representatives of the king, they should 
be appointed by him. It was advised, also, that 
a white man should accompany the expedition, 
but on this point, the chiefs split into two groups. 
Those who were pro-German preferred a trader 
named Ludenburg, those who were pro-American 
favored Jenkins. 

King Malietoa, though he had learned much 
of constitutional methods, none the less had many 
of the feelings of an absolute monarch. 

‘T will have neither of those named,’’ he said 
bluntly. ‘^The man Ludenburg has been a friend 
of Steinberger, whose carcass I desired thrown 
to the sharks, the man Jenkins was one of those 
present at the banquet of beastliness. How can I 
send a traitor or a drunkard as a bearer of the 
royal stick?” 

Jenkins winced at this, for he had been one of 
the few men at the Hawaiian banquet who had 
stayed strictly sober, but he knew better than to 
contradict King Malietoa in the presence of his 
chiefs. He rose and addressed the Council. 

‘‘The heart of King Malietoa is young,” he 
said, “and his thoughts are pure. Might it not 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 263 

be wise to send as a white man one whose heart 
is young and whose thoughts are pure. Behold a 
lad of wisdom, he who has already received the 
royal taboo stick as a sign of favor, and whose 
youth forbids the taint of selfishness. 0 King 
Malietoa! Send Duncan as an envoy; so shall 
no one say that the King^s right eye is stronger 
than his left, or he looks with greater favor on one 
political party than on the other.’’ 

The answer pleased the king, but not so the pro- 
German chiefs, who knew full well that Duncan 
was strictly partisan towards America. The 
matter was still hanging fire when Jenkins subtly 
suggested that if Duncan were chosen, he would 
put the Freischuts at the disposal of the king, 
since Samoa had no naval vessel of her own. 

This decided the matter, and, a couple of weeks 

later, the Freischutz set sail with Duncan and his 

father aboard, in addition to three of the oldest 

and wisest Samoan chiefs as envoys. The boy 

had been granted a leave of absence by the Consul 

who felt that it might be just as well to have an 

*» 

American present at this inter-island conference. 

Dorrocks, though now too old for sea command, 
went as a nominal passenger. This did not last 
long. No sooner was he well out on the ocean 


264 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

than he brisked up and paced the qnarterdeck as 
of old. The new captain of the Freischutz, a 
younger man, readily humored the wishes of the 
fine old salt, and, for that matter, admitted the 
consummate sea-lore of his senior. 

Upon their arrival in Honolulu, Duncan found 
that conditions in Hawaii had changed for the 
better. Gibson had been impeached, deposed, 
and thrown into jail, on evidence brought by the 
better class of citizens in the islands. A few 
weeks later, the former prime minister was ex¬ 
pelled, and sailed for the United States. 

King Kalakaua was visibly impressed by 
Duncan ^s modest bearing and his sound knowl¬ 
edge. The Samoan chiefs were welcomed and 
treated with a generous hospitality, but they were 
obviously ignorant of diplomatic usages. The 
Hawaiian monarch, who was educated, civilized, 
and had travelled widely, found Duncan the only 
member of the embassy who really understood the 
situation, and he gave him several private audi¬ 
ences. 

At one of these he asked the young fellow, 
point-blank if he thought the Treaty of Alliance 
would be recognized by the Powers. Duncan 
answered that Samoa had the right to make such 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 265 

a treaty, but he doubted whether Hawaii was free 
to do so. By reason of the Reciprocity Treaty 
of 1876 and 1884, and the granting of Pearl 
Harbor as a naval base, in the latter treaty, 
Hawaii was in so close a relation to the United 
States that a foreign alliance might not be valid 
without the approval of the American Department 
of State. He urged the sending of an envoy to 
Washington to secure the endorsement of the 
treaty. 

The King immediately offered to appoint 
Duncan as his envoy, but the young fellow refused 
promptly. He declared that an envoy from 
Hawaii should be an Hawaiian, and that as he had 
come as an attache of the Samoan embassy, he 
could not transfer his allegiance. The three 
Samoan chiefs, however, pointed out that the 
approval of the treaty was as vital to them as to 
the Samoan king, and they formally deputed 
Duncan to represent their interests in Washing¬ 
ton. Such a plan had the additional advantage 
of securing Freischutz as a vessel of trans¬ 

port, for the Kaimiloa was not fit for such a 
voyage. 

Once more the brig found herself on the Pacific 
Ocean, not this time as a semi-privateer hunting 


266 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

for treasure in kings’ tombs, nor as a piratic 
smuggler engaged in gun-running, but in the more 
dignified mission of carrying diplomatic envoys. 
When the Freiscliutz entered the Golden Gate and 
dropped anchor in the Bay of San Francisco, 
Duncan realized that a new chapter was opening 
in his quasi-diplomatic career. 

On his arrival in Washington, the young fellow 
found that his name was well known to those 
people in the Department of State and in the 
Consular Service whose work it was to deal with 
Pacific Ocean affairs. The reports of the Ameri¬ 
can Consul in Apia had mentioned him frequently, 
and he was not forgotten as the boy who had 
helped to save the harbor of Pago-Pago from 
falling into German hands. 

Yet, as he had expected, his mission failed. 
The Secretarv of State refused even to consider 
the matter of the Hawaii-Samoa treaty. Hawaii 
was to all intents and purposes on the very brink 
of annexation by the United States, while Samoa 
was in the hands of three powers with Germany 
as the controlling force in trade interests. The 
Hawaiian envoy was bluntly told that his country 
had no right to make such a treaty without having 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 267 

first secured the permission of the United States; 
Duncan, as the Samoan envoy, was informed that 
the United States desired to keep themselves free 
from entangling alliances/’ The pact, there¬ 
fore, was utterly disowned by the United States, 
and all the whisky which had been put on board 
the Kaimiloa had been drunk for nought. 

Although the object of the voyage was thus at 
an end, Duncan did not return at once to Samoa. 
While he was in the capital, trying in vain to find 
some means of rephrasing the treaty so that it 
might be accepted, or at least reconsidered, the 
Secretary of State arranged for a conference 
with the German and British ambassadors on 
the question of Samoa. 

Though Dorrocks and Jenkins were in no sense 
to be regarded as diplomats. Secretary Bayard 
knew that they could give him first-hand informa¬ 
tion on the situation in the islands. As for 
Duncan, he was distinctly persona grata in the 
State Department and he was told that a full re¬ 
port by him on the political cabals in Samoa 
would be welcomed by the Head of the Consular 
Service. His duties were thus temporarily trans¬ 
ferred from Apia to Washington. The Secretary 


268 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


of State, too, took note of Duncan’s unusual 
aptitude, deciding to use him later for special 
work. 

The Samoan Conference failed to reach an 
agreement. Germany and England, having made 
a secret deal between them to seize and divide all 
the autonomous islands in the Pacific, hung to¬ 
gether. England supported Germany’s claims in 
Samoa in return for a free hand in other places, 
and the two Powers presented a united proposal 
giving Germany a controlling power in the 
islands. 

In view of Duncan’s report, which described 
exactly how the Germans had supported the Ta- 
masese rebellion, and giving proofs of Germany’s 
intention to seize the harbor of Pago-Pago, Secre¬ 
tary Bayard absolutely refused consent to this 
Two-Power plan. He urged, instead, that island 
affairs be entrusted to a Council of Four, con¬ 
sisting of the reigning king and one representa¬ 
tive from each of the three Powers, and that each 
Power should keep a war-ship in Samoa for a 
third of a year, in rotation, to maintain order and 
to enforce the decrees of the Council. Fair and 
just as was this plan, Germany would not agree. 

Immediately after the adjournment of this con- 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 269 

ference, without result, Germany took the bit be¬ 
tween her teeth. The German Consul at Apia, on 
the orders of his government, demanded a money 
indemnity from King Malietoa for supposed in¬ 
juries to German trade prior to the Conference. 
The King refused, as was his right, but, lacking 
the conservative advice of Jenkins and Duncan, 
his American counsellors, he couched his refusal 
in such fiery terms that Germany found an excuse 
to break into bloody war. 

No opportunity was allowed the native king for 
reconsideration, no declaration of war was made, 
no sign even given of the dastardly project in the 
minds of the Germans. 

Two weeks later, in the dead of night, two Ger¬ 
man cruisers stole into the harbor of Apia. Si¬ 
lently their decks were cleared for action. At 
dawn, without a warning of any kind, shells be¬ 
gan to rain upon the native quarter of the town. 
Soldiers and marines were landed. King Malietoa 
was seized in his own royal palace, and several 
hours ^ looting was permitted, if not encouraged. 

Tamasese, who had been in the plot, and who 
was in hiding just outside the city, marched in 
with bands of marauding hillmen, and was im¬ 
mediately acclaimed as King by the German com- 


270 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

mander. Under threats of torture—in one case, 
with the actual use of it—the Chiefs were com¬ 
pelled to agree to the dethronement of Malietoa, 
and the King, in irons, was placed aboard one of 
the German cruisers. Tamasese was then offi¬ 
cially proclaimed King by the Council—under the 
levelled rifles of the German marines—and Bran- 
deis, a German, was appointed prime minister 
and given entire charge of island affairs. 

The American Consul made a vigorous protest, 
for two Americans had been killed by the shell¬ 
fire and much American property had been de¬ 
stroyed. Brandeis retorted that the Americans 
had been in league with Malietoa—^which was a 
true statement, since Malietoa was the lawful 
king—and made a veiled threat that he could not 
be responsible if native rioters burned the Ameri¬ 
can Consulate. 

Although Mataafa had been an enemy to Malie¬ 
toa and a rival to the throne, this German agres¬ 
sion in favor of Tamasese unified the natives. 
Followers of Malietoa and Mataafa combined 
against the Teuton-made king and civil war broke 
out anew, leading to more loss of life and further 
destruction of property. The Germans sent 
bands of soldiers to the several islands, and 




THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 271 

atrocities of the most appalling character were 
enacted. The code of ^ Trightfulness ’ ^ reigned 
and raged rampant. 

When this news reached America, there was a 
great outburst of indignation. A large part of 
the public press demanded instant revenge for 
the slaying of American citizens. The Secretary 
of State laid before the President the full details 
of Germany’s unwarranted and impudent aggres¬ 
sion. Congress, usually slow to move, instantly 
granted an appropriation of half a million dol¬ 
lars ‘To protect American interests,” a diplo¬ 
matic phrase of sinister significance. President 
Cleveland dispatched a squadron of the United 
States Navy to Samoa with instructions of the 
most drastic character—for Cleveland was not a 
man who minced his words. He went so far as to 
say that the honor of the United States “must be 
maintained by any means found necessary.” 
Such a phrase usually means War. 

Hearing of this action, both Germany and 
Great Britain replied promptly. Germany hur¬ 
ried to the harbor of Apia every war-vessel that 
was within reach, and Great Britain ordered her 
Asiatic squadron to the spot, nominally “to pro¬ 
tect British interests,” actually to support Ger- 


272 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

many, according to the terms of her secret agree¬ 
ment with the Kaiser. 

The barometer was falling fast as the Ameri¬ 
can squadron approached the harbor of Apia, and 
there were signs of dirty weather. Captains who 
had sailed the Pacific before, hove the log-line 
with anxious hearts, for they knew what malefic 
tempests could break forth in those latitudes. It 
was with a sense of overpowering relief that the 
Admiral of the squadron got his ships in the har¬ 
bor of Apia. There, at least, they would be safe, 
though it was not comparable in point of view of 
shelter to the great naval harbor of Pago-Pago, 
not many miles away. 

That night, the hurricane signs began to form 
more surely. The air grew heavy and oppres¬ 
sive; the night sky took on a greenish hue in the 
black, through which the stars glittered brightly, 
each surrounded by a yellow-green halo; the sea 
grew slick and oily, but with a slow menacing 
swell. On land, the night was full of plaintive 
cries, for the wild denizens of field and forest felt 
and dreaded what was about to come. Upon all 
men, that night, a lethargy and depression set¬ 
tled, a consciousness of futility against Nature, 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 273 

if she should unchain the fullness of her dreadful 
fury. 

Dawn came, cherry-red below, brown-green 
above. The sun rose with a burst above the hori¬ 
zon, cruelly hot and piercing. It was not more 
than two hand’s-breadths high when, along the 
eastern sky, an olive-green arc appeared, chasing 
the sun, which seemed to fly before its terrible 
pursuer. The green cloud rose and rose ever 
until it swallowed up the sun. 

A sound, which was felt rather than heard, 
filled the air, like the booming of distant surf. 
It reechoed hollowly under the steadily darken¬ 
ing sky. 

On board the ships of all the fleets, men worked 
with panic speed. There was no thought of offi¬ 
cial visits between the admirals, no question of 
diplomacy or War. A greater enemy than any 
of them there, a foe which laughed alliances of 
Powers to scorn, was launching itself upon them. 
All top-gear was taken down and stowed away, 
extra anchors put out and cables lengthened, 

t r 

hatches battened down, and everything made ship¬ 
shape for the coming storm. The vessels were 
in harbor, true, but if the utter wildness of the 


274 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

' elements should be unleashed, no man knew what 
might be the outcome. 

The wind freshened, rose to a sixty-mile gale, 
and dropped a few minutes later to a dead calm. 
The green disk covered half the sky, now, and, on 
the horizon was forming the circle-shaped spot of 
orange light with a black center, which mariners 
know as the ‘‘ox-eye of the storm.’’ 

A few drops of rain fell, large as a silver- 
dollar, hot enough to scald the skin as they fell. 

A squall of rain followed, heavy, angry, but 
falling as straight as though the drops were bul¬ 
lets of lead. Everything that man could do, now, 

4 _ 

was done. There was nothing left but to wait. 

The rain stopped. There was a breathless 
pause. 

Then, with a shriek like that of a thousand ex¬ 
ultant fiends, the hurncane was upon them. 
Never, in the history of the sea, had such appal¬ 
ling violence been seen. At the first impact of 
that unimaginable blast, the small fishing-boats 
were caught up like feathers and hurled inland, 
the wreckage of some, afterwards, being found in 
the tops of trees. Cargo steamers strained at 
their anchors, dragged and were cast on shore 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 275 

in a heap of jetsam, as one crumples up a piece of 
paper and tosses it away. 

The ships of war, low-lying, powerful, pre¬ 
pared for all contingencies, sustained the first 
blast, but no more. Anchors dragged and cables 
parted. 

No man could stand on any part of a ship^s 
deck. Funnels were razed as though they had 
been cut with a knife, ventilators disappeared, 
deck-houses burst to bits, boats were blown from 
their davits, iron pillars which supported bridges 
and upper works were twisted and bent like pieces 
of soft wire. 

In all that harbor, not one anchor held. Foot 
by foot, fathom by fathom, battleships and cruis¬ 
ers, American, British^ and German alike, 
Xjounded towards the lee shore where jagged reefs 
stretched eager black claws to rend out their bow¬ 
els. Every warship got up her fires, and steamed 
ahead full speed, not even seeking to escape, 
merely trying by her utmost engine power to re¬ 
lieve the strain upon the cables. 

The anchors dragged, still. 

Inconceivably furious as had been the first 
crash of the hurricane, it rose and rose contin- 


276 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

ually. From a hundred miles an hour it rose to 
a hundred and fifty, and to two hundred, perhaps 
even higher, though no man could ever tell. Even 
l 5 dng flat on a ship’s deck, it was almost impos¬ 
sible to breathe, the incredible speed of the tor¬ 
tured air seemingly to create a vacuum as it 
whirled by. 

One ship alone, finding that she held her place, 
dared a great deed. Slipping her cable, she set 
her nose to the hurricane and put human powers 
to their last desperate fight against the worst that 
infuriated Nature could do. 

Her bridge was gone and with it the steam 
steering gear, but the old wheel and stern-post— 
reserved for emergencies—held still. Lying on 
their bellies and reaching upward to grasp the 
lowermost spokes, four sailors held the vessel to 
her course. The captain, lashed to a twisted piece 
of iron which was all that remained of the rail¬ 
ing, scanned the ship. Down below, engineers 
and stokers worked with maniacal fury, while the 
flames rose in sheets from the orifices in the deck 
where once the funnels had been. 

In that green blackness, these two sheets of 
flame, lying parallel with the sea by reason of 
fury of wind, were the only lights visible. 


THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 277 

Inch by inch, fathom by fathom, the vessel crept 
ahead, slowly passing the other battleships which 
were dragging to their doom. On one ship a 
bngler blew a note of victory at the daring of the 
deed. On others, men who had scarce breath to 
breathe, summoned up the ghost of a cheer. From 
some ship—^which, was never known—a band 
which had been gathered, blared ont a salute to 
the heroes. 

‘‘So, in grim death-grapple, a British warship 
hurled her flaming defiance at the hurricane, 
dared Nature’s worst, and won! Alone of all the 
vessels in the harbor, she made out to sea leaving 
behind her the echoing cheers of brave men of all 
nations. ’ ’ 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 

The damage caused by the hurricane to the 
islands of the Samoan group reached vast dimen¬ 
sions. Apia and its harbor were in the very eye 
of the storm, but every square foot of the islands 
also suffered terribly. 

By noon of the first day of that great tempest, 
the sea rose to an unprecedented height, almost 
equalling that of a tidal wave, inundated the lower 
quarters of Apia, and swept away the frail-built 
fishing villages all along the coast. Scarce a boat 
remained on any beach—spelling ruin and starva¬ 
tion to the thousands of natives who lived by fish¬ 
ing alone. 

In the interior, nearly all the native huts were 
reduced to straws. Forests were levelled to the 
ground, fruit-orchards mown down like grass, and 
crops beaten flat. 

It is in such crises as these that better men 
show their true selves. 

Jenkins^ house, situnted on a hill overlooking 

278 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 279 

Apia, was one of the first to go, and, in the crash, 
the American had his foot hurt by a falling tim¬ 
ber. The injury was not great, but partly crip¬ 
pling. Notwithstanding this, he staggered back 
to the ruins of his house, found the safe and 
worked the combination, stuffing into his pockets 
every cent of money it contained. 

Then, though barely able to crawl, by reason 
of the injury to his foot and the fearful blast, he 
crept on hands and knees down the hill to the 
lower part of the town, to organize relief work. 
There he gathered together the plucky spirits, 
like himself, and the reckless ones who would do 
anything for pay, offering enormous sums to all 
who would dare the fury of the tempest. 

He was not far from the water-front, in the 
poorest quarter of the town, when the tidal wave 
came. He saw the wall of water, and snatching 
up a tiny Samoan child who was toddling beside 
its mother, bade the woman—^who had a baby in 
her arms—run for her life. Limping as he ran 
—though every step was torture—he had not 
gone far when the water struck him engulfing the 
houses thirty feet deep, and washing them up to 
the rim of destruction, stranded amid the crash 
of falling buildings. 


28o with the u. s. diplomats 


Nearly twelve hours later, in a black-green mid¬ 
night, after the water had subsided, rescuers 
heard the cry of a child. They pulled away the 
debris. 

Jenkins lay there, his chest crushed by a fallen 
beam, but the tiny Samoan child lay beside him, 
unharmed, his hand gripped in the iron clench of 
the dying man. They carried him, gently, to the 
church of Father Marsotte, which was still stand¬ 
ing firm, and the priest nursed him-—with many 
other wounded folk—through the rest of the night 
and into the morning of the second day of storm. 

The wind was still shrieking madly when Jen¬ 
kins returned to consciousness. 

‘‘Where am IV^ he asked weakly, and then, as 
his surroundings forced themselves upon his no¬ 
tice, he added with a grim smile, “The first time 
iVe been in church for a good many years. 

Father Marsotte, fearing lest he should become 
excited, bade his patient keep quiet. 

“Am I going to die, Padrehe asked. 

The priest, knowing his man, and seeing that 
the end was not far off, answered simply, 

“I^m afraid so. But you saved the baby.’^ 

“Ah! Did I?^’ Jenkins^ eyes brightened at 
this. “That’s a good way to go out!” said he. 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 281 


There was a moment’s pause. 

‘T’d better straighten up things before I go, 
then. Have you got a bit of paper, Padre ? Just 
write that I leave five thousand dollars to this 
church, the same amount to you for the poor, and 
all the rest evenly between Dorrocks and Dun¬ 
can.” 

‘‘And your own people!” 

“Write, Padre, and let me sign.” 

This was done, and again a pause came, during 
which the priest noted the signs of approaching 
death. 

“Do you want to pray, my friend!” 

“No,” said the adventurer firmly, “I’ve lived 
a man’s life, without praying, and I’ll die that 
way. I’ll not dodge behind hypocrisy at the last 
minute. ’ ’ 

“You have no objection to my praying!” 

Jenkins took the priest’s hand in his feeble 
grip. 

“I’d like it. We’ve been good friends. Padre, 
and you’re the best man I ever met. I guess 
you’re right. The end isn’t far off. Now, 
pray!” 

The ears of the adventurer never heard the 
end of that prayer. Only, his eyes turned toward 


282 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 


the altar and the red lamp burning before the 
Sacrament. No one knows what thoughts passed 
through his mind, before the glazing eyes closed 
for the last time. So, with the storm still shriek¬ 
ing in all its fury around the little church, the 
stormy life of Jenkins came to a fitting close. 

When, the day after Jenkins’ death, the sun 
rose in a clear sky, the three great islands of 
Samoa were a wilderness. Thousands of people 
were dead. On all sides was to be seen nothing 
but ruin and devastation. The Paradise of the 
Pacific had become an Inferno of distress and 
destruction. Almost, it seemed, Samoa would 
never be able to raise her head again. 

There was no longer any thought of civil war. 
Political intrigue stopped suddenly. Every force 
in the islands concentrated on the work of relief. 
The half-million dollars which had been voted by 
Congress with a warlike intent was instantly de¬ 
voted to deeds of mercy. The terrible naval 
losses sustained by the three Powers attracted 
the attention of the whole civilized world to 
Samoa, and human charity did its best to redeem 
the hideous and melancholy ravages of the Great 
Hurricane. 

Prior to the arrival of news of this disaster. 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 283 

Secretary Bayard had commissioned H. G. Bates 
as a Special Agent to Samoa and had offered 
Duncan a post as secretary on this mission. The 
young fellow jumped eagerly at the proposal, 
since it took him out of the Consular Service into 
the Diplomatic Service, though only in a sub¬ 
ordinate and temporary capacity. Under Father 
Marsotte’s gentle inspiration, the Diplomatic 
Service had been the goal of Duncan’s hopes, ever 
since boyhood. 

Upon his arrival in Samoa, Duncan found the 
islands in a worse state of confusion than ever 
before. The hurricane had blotted out strife, for 
the time being, hut it had not dulled native resent¬ 
ment. 

Of the three Powers, Germany had not only 
done the least in charitable work, but Brandeis— 
prior to the decisions of the Berlin Conference— 
had taken advantage of the ruined natives to en¬ 
rich his German following. It was proved that 
he had appropriated Bed Cross supplies, which 
had been donated in America, and had sold these 
supplies to the native Samoans at exorbitant rates, 
taking their lands in payment. 

Through Father Marsotte, and other friends, 
Duncan v/as able to secure for his chief an exact 


284 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

knowledge of what had happened during his ab¬ 
sence and during the venal regime of Tamasese 
and Brandeis. By this means, the American rep¬ 
resentative got an insight into island affairs 
which otherwise would have been difficult to ob¬ 
tain under the terroristic iron heel of Germany. 

Bates, having gathered all the necessary facts, 
returned straightway to Washington with his re¬ 
port. The Special Agent was an accomplished 
German scholar, and this knowledge had been one 
of the reasons for his appointment to the post. 
During the long sea voyages across the Pacific 
he had become greatly interested in the linguistic 
proficiency of his young secretary, and, to while 
away the weary hours on shipboard, he under¬ 
took to help Duncan in his study of German, 
which the young fellow had commenced to learn 
while in Washington. 

Upon his return to the capital, Duncan was 
forced to go back to the less interesting work of 
daily office routine. During the whole of the 
next year he acted as a clerk in the State De¬ 
partment, going to night school to perfect him¬ 
self in German, and taking correspondence 
courses in international law. Father Marsotte, 
in his correspondence—which was as regular as 



THE WINNING OF HAWAII 285 

sailings permitted—made it a point to pnt lead¬ 
ing questions to Duncan such as to force his 
former pupil to a keen observation of the diplo¬ 
matic methods by which he was surrounded, their 
successes and their failures. 

Towards the close of President Cleveland's 
first administration, the Powers again had to 
intervene in Samoa and Prince von Bismarck 
proposed another conference, this time to be 
held in Berlin. As President Harrison was about 
to be inaugurated, the appointment of American 
representatives was delayed until the President 
should actually have taken office. Soon after the 
inauguration, in March 1889, Messrs. Kasson, 
Phelps, and Bates were appointed as Commis¬ 
sioners to Berlin, with the usual staff of secre¬ 
taries and assistants, of whom Duncan was one. 

This European Conference was an eye-opener 
to the young fellow, who, up to that time, had 
known nothing of real diplomacy. 

In such places as Samoa and Hawaii, his youth 
and inexperience in worldly affairs had been no 
great barrier for the rough-and-ready diplomacy 
of half-savage islands. The chiefs with whom 
he had been dealing were but as children in in¬ 
ternational affairs, and, by comparison, Duncan 


286 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

had begun to consider himself a very clever and 
important person. 

It was much the same in Washington, omng 
to the lamentable fact that constant changes in 
administration resulted in the appointment of 
untrained politicians to important posts—a vi¬ 
cious error which still continues, though in lesser 
degree. In the national capital, Duncan’s long 
stay in the islands and his abilities as a linguist 
caused him to be regarded as quite an authority 
on the subject of the Pacific Islands. 

But when he went to Europe, he found he was 
a very small fish, indeed. He was a secretarial 
clerk and amounted to nothing more. What was 
still more humiliating, he saw that the secretaries 
attached to the German and British Commissions 
knew all that was essential about Samoa, and 
understood something of world affairs, besides. 

It was, however, in the diplomats themselves 
that Duncan found his greatest amazement. 
Such men as Bismarck and the English High 
Commissioner were statesmen of a caliber far 
beyond his wildest imagination. For the first 
time in his life the young fellow realized that a 
really big mind does not differ from smaller 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 287 

minds only in degree, but also in kind. He 
grasped the difference between the politician and 
the statesman, which is, indeed, the difference be¬ 
tween the craftsman and the artist, between clev¬ 
erness and genius. 

It was in Berlin that Duncan first perceived the 
inherent falsity of the old American view of di¬ 
plomacy, which deals with matters rather than 
men, and which has led the United States into the 
error of supposing that because a business man 
has been clever enough to become rich he is there¬ 
fore competent to confront great statesmen. He 
soon learned that diplomatic issues are not fought 
out on a basis of principle, but on the basis of 
personality, and that the fate of nations depends 
more often upon the imposition of a great states¬ 
man's will than upon the justice of the issues 
concerned.^ Of great statesmen, men of the cal¬ 
iber of Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay, the 
United States has had but few. 

After the first meeting of the Conference, 

1 It is the confirmed opinion of the author that many of the 
troubles which have followed the World War have resulted from 
the fact that there was no great statesman at the Peace Table. 
Certainly neither Woodrow Wilson, Lloyd George, nor Clemen- 
ceau measured anywhere near that standard. F. R-W, 


288 iWITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

'Bates, who was only the third ranking member 
of the Commission, came back with a long face. 
He took Dnncan into his confidence. 

“Kasson is doing well enough,’^ he said, ‘‘but 
it’s like a minnow tackling a shark when he tries 
to talk to Bismarck. There’s one thing, sure, 
we ’ll never be able to keep the Germans from get¬ 
ting Samoa or anything else they want, so long 
as Bismarck is at the head of affairs here. 
There’s no man in America big enough to face 
him.” 

Yet the American Commissioners seemed to be 
more successful than Bates anticipated. They 
won their point in driving Tamasese out of power 
and restoring Malietoa as king until his death; 
they demanded, and secured, the recall of Bran- 
deis as prime minister; and they caused the adop¬ 
tion of Secretary Bayard’s plan of having the 
three Powers equally represented in the govern¬ 
ment of the islands. 

Bismarck, however, with grim suavity and 
polite arrogance, twisted the details of the in¬ 
ternational agreement in such a way that, while 
he seemed to give way to the American Commis¬ 
sioners, all that the latter gained should prove 
valueless. 




THE WINNING OF HAWAII 289 

The Iron Chancellor agreed that there should 
he a foreign Chief Justice and a foreign Chief 
Magistrate of Apia, as well as foreigners at the 
head of the Trade and Land Commissions. He 
was even willing to allow an Englishman to be¬ 
come the first Chief Justice, a post which com¬ 
bined both the political and judicial headship of 
the islands. 

Then, having with apparent generosity yielded 
the first place to England, he arranged that the 
Chief Magistrate of Apia should be a German— 
allowing an American to preside over the Trade 
Commission—and he shrewdly provided that the 
Chief Magistrate should have control of the 
police and the local militia. 

The Americans won a paper victory, but the 
Iron Chancellor, with his tongue in his cheek, 
phrased the agreement with so shrewd and sure 
a hand that the King and Council were reduced 
to puppets. It would have taken abler and more 
experienced diplomats than the American Com¬ 
missioners to foresee the march of events that 
Bismarck had set going and which would cause 
the Samoan power to become but a shadow and 
a name. 

While not actually included in the agreement, 



290 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

a ‘‘verbal conversation’’ decided an equally im¬ 
portant matter. Since the Americans had de¬ 
manded the recall of Brandeis, because he was 
persona non grata to them, Bismarck remarked, 
with justice, that the United States should be 
willing to recall such of its citizens in Samoa as 
were persona non grata to the Germans. In 
other words, the slate was to be cleaned oft, and 
all begun afresh. Among the names submitted 
by the Germans for recall was that of Duncan. 

When the Conference at Berlin was over, and 
the American Commissioners had returned to 
Washington, Duncan’s occupation was gone. He 
could not return to Samoa, since the Germans 
had forced him out, yet the loss of his position 
in the Consulate there had been directly due to 
his faithfulness to the United States. 

The Department of State was thereby placed 
under an obligation to see that the young fellow 
did not sutler because of his loyalty. He was 
given a senior clerkship, much of his time being 
devoted to routine work on matters arising out 
of conditions in Samoa and Hawaii. Twice, be¬ 
cause of his knowledge of the Chinese language, 
he was sent to California on matters connected 
with Chinese immigration, and, a little later, he 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 291 

was detailed to the study of the Chinese exclusion 
treaties. 

Meantime, in Samoa, things went from bad to 
worse. The new Chief Justice, an Englishman, 
had accepted the post supposing that Germany 
intended to stand by her ally. He soon found 
the German Chief Magistrate stirring up the na¬ 
tives to defy the laws. As, by Bismarck’s 
shrewd provision, the Chief Magistrate con¬ 
trolled the police and the militia, the Chief Jus¬ 
tice was powerless unless he called on British 
troops, an action forbidden except in case of 
emergency. 

Mataafa, openly supported by the Germans, 
and secretly aided by the Chief Magistrate, raised 
the standard of revolt, and, suspecting that 
Father Marsotte had got wind of his plans, 
seized the priest while he was making his parish 
rounds and carried him off. Several of the 
rebels, however, recognized him as one of the 
most active workers in the hurricane relief and 
remembered how he had nursed their families 
and friends during the famine and plague that 
followed. They set him free, in consequence, 
without their leaders’ knowledge. 

Upon his arrival in Apia, the priest hurried to 


292 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

the Chief Justice and lodged information. Re¬ 
garding this as an emergency, the British acted 
quickly, and quelled the revolts with troops from 
a man-of-war before German reenforcements 
could arrive. A party of bluejackets captured 
Mataafa, and he was deported immediately. On 
this, the Germans promised to aid Tamasese, who 
took charge of his rivaPs forces and civil war be¬ 
gan anew. 

Over and over again, the Samoans appealed to 
the United States for help, and American naval 
vessels were maintained either in the harbor 
of Pago-Pago or cruising close by. Presidents 
Harrison, Cleveland, (in his second administra¬ 
tion) and McKinley alike found themselves help¬ 
less to break the iron-bound agreement which had 
been engineered by Bismarck. Cleveland, in¬ 
deed, urged positive action, but Congress de¬ 
clined to move. 

Finally, in 1898, Malietoa died, and his death 
stirred the pot of trouble up anew. 

The British Chief Justice, as the political head 
of the islands, decided in favor of Malietoa Tanu, 
the rightful heir, whereupon the German Chief 
Magistrate declared in favor of Mataafa, who 



THE WINNING OF HAWAII 293 

had come back from exile. The Americans sided 
with the British. 

Again civil war broke out. Marines were 
landed from American, British, and German men- 
o’-war, and there was bloody fighting in the 
streets of Apia. Several American officers and 
soldiers were slain by Mataafa’s troops led by 
German officers. 

This was too much! Once again the United 
States demanded a peaceful settlement, and in no 
uncertain terms. 

A Commission of three members, each repre¬ 
senting one of the Powers, was sent to Samoa 
‘‘with full powers to act.^’ The Commissioners 
found the tangle beyond them. They modified 
the Berlin agreement, but, without a dissenting 
voice, they agreed that there could never be 
peace in Samoa under any system of tripartite 
control. 

Eeluctantly, very reluctantly, the Americans 
were forced to admit that there was no way to 
maintain native autonomy in the teeth of perpet¬ 
ual German aggression. Bismarck had foreseen 
this, long before. Under protest, therefore, the 
United States agreed to the partition of Samoa. 



294 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

In December, 1899, the three Powers signed a 
treaty cutting up the country. By this treaty, 
they expressed their desire ‘‘to adjust amicably 
the questions which have arisen between them in 
respect to the Samoan group of islands, as 
well as to avoid all future misunderstanding.^’ 
Tutuila, with the harbor of Pago-Pago, and all 
the outljdng islets to the west were officially “re¬ 
nounced to the United States”; Upolu, Savaii, 
and all the other islands were placed in the hands 
of Germany. 

The Samoan kingdom was no more. In Tu¬ 
tuila, indeed, which was under American control, 
the native chiefs were allowed to retain their au¬ 
tonomy so long as this did not interfere with the 
development of the naval station of Pago-Pago, 
but Germany placed the other islands under mil¬ 
itary rule. 

Dorrocks, fulminating against what he termed 
“America’s defeat,” insulted the German officers 
openly, and barely escaped seeing the inside of a 
German military prison. He shook the dust of 
Samoa off his feet and sailed for Hawaii, where, 
as he put it: “Bismarck’s pups didn’t do any 
barking.” 

Father Marsotte found himself in a difficult po- 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 295 

sition. It was known that he had given informa¬ 
tion about the Mataafa revolt, and, as a loyal 
Frenchman and a lover of the Samoans, he had 
good reasons for disliking the Germans. Finally 
he succeeded in turning over his flourishing par¬ 
ish in Apia to a German Catholic priest, and 
went, himself to Tutuila, to be under the Ameri¬ 
can flag. There, among the wilder tribes of the 
interior, he began rough missionary work anew. 

Malietoa Tanu protested to the civilized world 
against this seizure of his kingdom—to which 
none of the Powers had any just right—and he 
declared that ‘Ghe type of civilization which had 
been introduced into Polynesia by foreign gov¬ 
ernments, and which is signalized by drunkenness 
and dishonesty in trade, is far inferior to that 
which its inhabitants previously possessed.^’ 

American public opinion in the United States 
was in undoubted sympathy with Malietoa Tanu, 
but business sentiment—a very different thing!— 
was not. As it is an inherent part of American 
diplomatic policy to enlarge world markets, 
whether the peoples of unexploited countries de¬ 
sire such increase of trade or no, the protest of 
Malietoa Tanu was not even honored with a 
reply. 


296 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

So matters rested until the close of the World 
War, when, by right of conquest, the German pos¬ 
sessions in Samoa passed into the hands of the 
British. Thus, with all parts of the group under 
the control of the two English-speaking peoples, 
the islands at last had peace. Father Marsotte, 
now an old man, returned to his parish in Apia, 
and lived there in quietude and honor all the refit 
of his days. 

Denied the opportunity to return to Samoa, 
Duncan’s interest commenced to center more and 
more in Hawaii, all the more readily, perhaps, 
because his father had settled there. Yet, in 
very truth, all his heart was in the Pacific. 

This love was not strange. He had been born 
in Ning-po, one of the treaty ports which had 
been opened to the world by American diplomacy, 
through Commodore Kearny and Caleb Cush¬ 
ing. He had spent some years in a Japanese 
fishing village, where Christians were allowed to 
live in peace, again as a result of American di¬ 
plomacy, initiated by Commodore Perry and car¬ 
ried out by Townsend Harris. He had been 
brought up in Apia, had worked in the Consulate 
there, and had home an active share in all the 
vicissitudes of the islands. 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 297 

While Duncan was a citizen of the United 
States, and an ardent American, his homelands 
were distant China, Japan, and Samoa. It was 
little wonder that he threw himself eagerly into 
Pacific problems, and became a strong supporter 
of the annexation of Hawaii. 

Almost from the moment of their discovery, the 
Hawaiian Islands (first known as the Sandwich 
Islands) were closely allied to the United States 
by trade interests. They were not even discov¬ 
ered by Captain Cook until 1778, two years after 
the United States had declared its independence. 

It was upon the great navigator ^s second visit, 
the year after, that some of his sailors violated 
a taboo, or rule of religious custom. To the Ha- 
waiians, this irreligious act was proof positive 
that Captain Cook could not be the incarnation 
of a god (as the priests had announced upon his 
first coming), and they set upon him and killed 
him. Whether his body was eaten or not is still 
disputed, for, while the Hawaiians made human 
sacrifices to their gods, cannibalism was rare. 
Sure it is that only a few of the great explorer ^s 
bones were found.^ 

Absolutely unknown as were these islands, and 
young as was the United States, yet, almost 


298 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

immediately after Captain Cook’s discovery, 
New England traders established themselves in 
Hawaii. 

In 1787, Captain Kendrick, commanding the 
Columbia, and Captain Cray, commanding the 
Washington, set sail from Boston with full car¬ 
goes of trinkets and articles for barter with the 
Indians of the Northwest Coast. After a long 
and difficult voyage around Cape Horn, they 
reached what is now the coast of Oregon, then, 
of course, populated only by Indians. There 
they endeavored to exchange all their merchan¬ 
dise for furs, but secured only enough to give the 
Columbia a full cargo. 

This ship was then placed in command of Cap¬ 
tain Gray, and she sailed to Canton, exchanged 
her furs for tea, and returned to Boston by the 
Cape of Good Hope, thus being the first ship to 
carry the American flag around the world. On 
his next voyage. Captain Gray discovered and 
entered the Columbia Eiver, which he named 
after his vessel. 

Kendrick, ^vith the Washington, remained for 
a while on the Oregon Coast, collecting more furs. 
Thence he went to the Hawaiian Islands, where 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 299 

he established the industry of drying and 
properly curing the peltries which fur-traders 
brought, for furs commanded a far higher price 
in China when dressed and treated. He also es¬ 
tablished the sandal-wood trade, paying a high 
tax to the Hawaiian chiefs for the privilege of 
cutting this highly-prized wood. 

This American pioneer of Asiatic‘trade lost his 
life by accident, three years later, but not before 
he had convinced the Hawaiian chiefs of the 
fairness of American dealings. 

During that decade. Captain Vancouver, of the 
British Navy, visited the islands three times. He 
landed the first sheep, and cattle ever seen in 
Hawaii, brought the first vine, orange, and al¬ 
mond plants, as well as seeds of garden vege¬ 
tables. 

In 1794, Kendrick being dead and no other 
American trader having won the confidence of 
the chiefs, the latter ceded the islands to Great 
Britain in recognition of Vancouver’s kindly aid, 
and the British flag was raised. Vancouver died 
before he could make a fourth voyage, on which 
he proposed to bring colonists and missionaries, 
and Great Britain—then in the throes of the Eu- 


300 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

ropean disturbances which followed the French 
Revolution—never took formal possession, leav¬ 
ing the field to America. 

When Cook first landed, he was told by the 
priests of the growing importance of Kameha- 
meha, an ambitious tribal chief on the island of 
Oahu. This chieftain, who possessed the ele¬ 
ments of greatness, undertook the conquest of 
the entire island. When engaged in battle with 
the last remaining chief who dared to resist him, 
there occurred a terrific eruption of the great 
volcano Kilauea, on the neighboring island of 
Molokai, a fiery rain crossing the thirty-mile-wide 
Kaiwi Channel, and falling upon the opposing 
army with the result of destroying half of it. 

This apparently miraculous intervention con¬ 
vinced Kamehameha that Pele, the goddess of 
volcanoes, was on his side. Deeming himself a 
favorite of the gods, he set out upon a career of 
conquest and subjugated all the other islands of 
the group, becoming King of Hawaii, and estab¬ 
lishing a dynasty which lasted nearly a century. 
He was friendly to foreigners, always grateful 
for advice, and adopted as his political advisers 
two sailors—Isaac Davis and John Young—^the 
sole survivors of the massacred crew of an Amer- 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 301 

ican vessel. This choice, made a century before, 
was the determining factor which led finally to 
American annexation. 

Towards the end of his life, when he had full 
opportunity to judge of the mischief done in 
Hawaii by liquor, Kamehameha I called the 
chiefs together and bade them destroy every dis¬ 
tillery in the island, also making it punishable 
with death to bring liquor into the island. He 
was eager to embrace the foreigners^ religion, but 
died the year before the coming of the first mis¬ 
sionaries. 

During his reign the power of idolatry had 
been greatly weakened, as had also the system of 
taboo, and when his successor, Kamehameha II 
came to the throne in 1819, the young king threw 
down all the idols, broke down the walls of the 
heicms or temple enclosures and abolished taboo 
entirely. The amazement of the missionaries 
from New England may be imagined when, on 
their arrival in 1820, they found the old religion 
gone and every person in the islands eager for 
the new. Even the old high priest of the heathen 
temples was foremost in welcoming the bringers 
of a Christian creed. 

The first American Consul, John C. Jones, ar- 


302 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

rived in the same year, thus being the first for¬ 
eign official in the islands, although other nations 
had stronger claims in Hawaii and better reasons 
for sending a representative there. England 
claimed the islands by reason of the voluntary 
cession to Vancouver. Russia based her claim 
on the fact that, in 1815, Count Baranoff, the 
Viceroy of Russian America, had sent a vessel to 
the Hawaiian Islands, and that this expedition 
had built a stone fort on the island of Kauai and 
had raised the Russian flag over it. 

Kamehameha II, with Consul Jones and the 
American missionaries to back him, refused con¬ 
sideration to both these claims. Since the time 
of Vancouver, the Kamehameha dynasty had be¬ 
come established, had secured peace, had abol¬ 
ished idolatry and taboo, had adopted Christian¬ 
ity, had instituted a modern judicial system and 
had furthered the interests of commerce. As for 
the Russian claim, Kamehameha I had pulled 
dovTi the Russian flag on the fort and ordered 
the strangers away. Since neither England nor 
Russia had ratified the actions of their repre¬ 
sentatives, the claims were declared invalid. 

Civilization was beginning to take hold in 
Hawaii, indeed, but it did not bring comfort to 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 303 

the Kanakas. On the contrary, life on the is¬ 
lands became infinitely less agreeable than be¬ 
fore. 

The New England missionaries, unable to re¬ 
strain themselves from Puritanical measures 
when they found a virgin field, had attacked 
every native custom that they found. They abol¬ 
ished the national hula-hula dance, insisted that 
only hymn tunes should be played on the ukulele 
and the taro-patch, made the wearing of Euro¬ 
pean clothes—for Polynesian natives in a balmy 
tropical climate!—the test of Christianity, re¬ 
fused the use of wood for fuel to those who did 
not go to church, established a rigid marriage sys¬ 
tem in place of the free-and-easy polygamy that 
had previously existed, forced children who had 
never been indoors in their lives to sit long hours 
in school, and taught the women to cook Amer¬ 
ican dishes which they hated. 

In short, the missionaries could understand no 
other form of religion and no other kind of civili¬ 
zation than that of the New England towns from 
which they had come. They strove to make 
Honolulu resemble Boston. 

Moreover, from the very start, the mission¬ 
aries of the American Board took control of poli- 


304 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

tical as well as religious affairs. They under¬ 
took to run the government and made Congrega¬ 
tionalism a state church, quite contrary to the 
principles of United States law. 

In the name of Christianity, they forced the 
king to establish a rigorous Mosaic code of laws, 
with the Ten Commandments as a basis and with 
penalties reminiscent of early Puritanism to add 
greater severity. ‘‘Thou shalt not!’’ became 
their first rule, for they honestly believed that 
there could be no right thinking and no decent 
living except after their own pattern. 

At first bewildered, the Hawaiians soon came 
to resent this heavy hand, and there was a sudden 
relapse into idolatry, wliich, again, was cruelly 
punished. The native chiefs regretted their old 
ways and sent a deputation of protest to the 
king. The spokesman began his plea with the 
following words: 

“Hear ye, 0 King! You have taken away the 
light taboos of our fathers which we did under¬ 
stand, and, instead, have given us heavier taboos 
which we do not understand. 

“Hear ye, 0 King! Since the foreigners have 
brought tears where before there was singing, 
family strife where before there was peace, and 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 305 

unneeded desire where before there was content, 
is it not better that these strangers should be sent 
away from our islands?’’ 

The young king was under the thumb of the 
missionaries and dared not act alone. He tried 
to pacify the chiefs with promises, which they did 
not believe. The Poison God idol was brought 
from its hiding-place and carried in procession 
through the streets of Honolulu. The mission¬ 
aries clamored that the idol should be seized and 
burned, but this was too much for any Kanaka 
king to dare. Sacrifices to the Shark God were 
resumed. 

Amid this rising tide of discontent, the first 
British Consul-General came to the islands. Im¬ 
mediately upon his arrival, in 1825, the traders, 
in a body, begged him to interfere in this autoc¬ 
racy of missionary zeal, pointing out that their 
business was affected thereby. This complaint 
was more real than just, for the only business 
which had been injured was that of liquor. 

Consul Charlton, with more frankness than 
tact, joined the traders in the attack on the mis¬ 
sionaries. He openly asserted that the ministers 
would never have made so many mistakes had 
their country been experienced in colonization. 


3 o6 with the U. S. DIPLOMATS 

and affirmed that a Puritanical code was an ab¬ 
surdity in a tropical country. He added that 
Great Britain had not ‘‘yielded her just claims 
on the Sandwich Islands for the purpose of turn¬ 
ing them into an asylum for sectarian bigotry.’’ 

This was scarcely diplomatic language, and the 
American Consul retorted equally virulently with 
an attack on England’s opium-smuggling. The 
people of the island split into two parties: 
the young king, the American missionaries and 
the more submissive converts on the one side; the 
older chiefs, the British Consul, the traders, and 
the bulk of the native population on the other. 
To add to the bad feeling, personal charges of a 
grave order were made against the missionaries. 

Matters looked so ugly that the United States 
sent the frigate Peacock, commanded by Captain 
ap Catesby Jones to arrange a commercial treaty 
with Kamehameha II and to investigate the 
charges against the American missionaries. 

The result wns a complete vindication. Al¬ 
though admitting that the zeal of the New Eng¬ 
land teachers might have carried them too fast 
and too far. Captain ap Catesby Jones ended his 
report in the following words: 

“Not one jot or tittle, not one iota derogatory 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 307 

to their character as men, as ministers of the 
gospel of the strictest order, or as missionaries, 
could be made to appear by the united efforts of 
all who conspired against them/’ 

Yet, as history has often shown, good men may 
do very foolish and often very harmful things. 
These same missionaries nearly plunged Hawaii 
into war, and all but lost to the United States the 
country they were trying to develop into their 
particular brand of Americanism. 

A year or two after the visit of the Peacock^ 
some Koman Catholic missionaries landed from 
France. 

The New England Protestants, descendants of 
the old Puritans, were furious. They declared to 
the king that the newcomers were worshippers of 
idols similar to those which he had burned (which 
was an absurd and malicious lie), and demanded 
that the French priests be expelled, which was 
done. Other priests came later, and were ban¬ 
ished likewise. 

Over and over this occurred, and, on two oc¬ 
casions, Catholic missionaries were grievously 
ill-treated on the orders of the Protestant advis¬ 
ers of the king. 

Five different times France intervened in fa- 


310 .WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

to all whose trade is extended to those regions; 
while its nearer approach to this continent, and 
the intercourse which American vessels have with 
it—such vessels constituting five-sixths of all 
which annually visit it—could not but create dis¬ 
satisfaction on the part of the United States at 
any attempt, by another Power, should such at¬ 
tempt be threatened or feared, to take possession 
of the islands and colonize them, and subvert the 
native government. 

‘‘Considering, therefore, that the United States 
possess so very large a share of the intercourse 
with those islands, it is indeed not unfit to make 
the declaration that their government seeks 
nevertheless no peculiar advantages, no exclusive 
control over the Hawaiian government, but is 
content with its independent existence, and anx¬ 
iously wishes for its security and prosperity. 

“Its forbearance in this respect, under the cir¬ 
cumstances of the very large intercourse of its 
citizens with the islands, would justify this gov¬ 
ernment, should events hereafter arise to require 
it, in making a decided remonstrance against the 
adoption of an opposite policy by any other 
Power. ’ ’ 

The publication of this Message had its effect. 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 311 

After some months’ delay, both England and 
France agreed to recognize the independence of 
the islands, the Hawaiian commissioners grant¬ 
ing to Great Britain all the demands made by the 
commander of the Act aeon ^ and making a formal 
apology to France for the treatment of Eoman 
Catholic missionaries. 

During the progress of the negotiations, and 
before any news of the results had reached 
Hawaii, Lord George Paulet, commanding the 
British warship Carysfort, appeared before Hon¬ 
olulu, in answer to a formal complaint laid before 
him by the British Consul-General. He de¬ 
manded reparation for insults offered by the 
king’s missionary cabinet to British subjects, 
and, when this was refused, he forced the king to 
abdicate and set up a colonial government which 
pledged allegiance to England’s queen. 

When news of this hasty action reached the 
ears of Admiral Thomas, commanding the Brit¬ 
ish Pacific fleet, the admiral proceeded at once 
to Honolulu. There, after a brief inquiry, he 
promptly disavowed Lord Paulet’s action on the 
ground that it was both ill-timed and unjustifi¬ 
able. In order that there should be no doubt as 
to England’s attitude in the matter, he accom- 


312 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

panied the king in a carriage to the public square, 
publicly reinstated him, supplanted the British 
with the Hawaiian flag and caused the latter to 
be saluted by all the forts, and all the vessels in 
the harbor. It was a piece of justice, freely and 
handsomely done. 

The missionaries, however, could not keep their 
fingers out of trouble. Being left in peace for 
a few years, they broke their treaty obligations 
and recommenced the persecution of Roman 
Catholics. The natural result was that, in 1849, 
two French men-of-war arrived in the harbor of 
Honolulu, for ^‘reprisals,’’ not for argument. 
An armed force was landed, the forts dismantled, 
the guns spiked, the ammunition thrown into the 
sea, and the king’s yacht confiscated. 

This brought about a new appeal from Hawaii 

$ 

to the United States. The king, with the advice 
of his missionary council, signed a proclamation 
that: ‘‘despairing of equity and justice from 
France, we hereby proclaim as our royal will and 
pleasure that all our islands and all our rights as 
sovereign over them, are, from the date hereof, 
placed under the protection and safeguard of the 
United States of America, until a satisfactory 
adjustment can be made, or, if such arrangements 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 313 

be found impracticable, then it is our wish and 
pleasure that the protection aforesaid under the 
United States of America be perpetual.’’ 

This proclamation of the voluntary cession of 
Hawaii to the United States was delivered in a 
sealed package to the American Commissioner, 
only to be opened and held valid in case the 
French began active hostilities. 

Calmer counsels prevailed. By an exchange 
of diplomatic notes a treaty was signed whereby 
Hawaii formally granted religious toleration, 
and acceded to most of the demands made by 
the commander of Artemise ten years before. 
Finding the Hawaiians at last amenable to rea¬ 
son, France returned the $20,000 deposit held as 
a guarantee, in the original cases and with the 
seals unbroken. In 1852, Hawaii provided itself 
with a new Constitution, freed from Puritanical 
severities, and really began its career as a mod¬ 
ern nation. 

Altogether, the missionaries had imperilled the 
future of Hawaii nine ditferent times. No less 
than six times, for short periods, the islands were 
actually ceded to foreign powers, twice to the 
British, twice to the French, twice to the United 
States. ‘Yet it would be highly unjust to over- 


314 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

emphasize the errors of the .missionaries, for the 
final annexation of Hawaii to the United States 
can be traced back to their persistent and un¬ 
tiring work in the interests of religion and 
humanity. 

In 1860, Richard H. Dana, who spent some time 
making a careful study of Hawaii, wrote as fol¬ 
lows : 

^Tt is no small thing to say of the missionaries 
of the American Board that in less than forty 
years they have taught this whole people to read 
and to write, to cipher and to sew. They have 
given them an alphabet, grammar and diction¬ 
ary; preserved their language from extinction; 
given it a literature and translated into it the 
Bible and work of devotion, science and enter¬ 
tainment. They have established schools, reared 
up native teachers, and so pressed their work that 
now the proportion of inhabitants who can read 
and write is greater than in New England. 

‘‘Wherea*s they found these islanders a nation 
of half-naked savages, living in the surf and on 
the sand, eating raw fish, fighting among them¬ 
selves, tyrannized over by feudal chiefs and aban¬ 
doned to sensuality, they now see them decently 
clothed, recognizing the laws of marriage, know- 




THE WINNING OF HAWAII 315 

ing something of accounts, going to school and 
public worship with more regularity than the peo¬ 
ple do at home; and the more elevated of them 
taking part in conducting the affairs of the con¬ 
stitutional monarchy under which they live, hold¬ 
ing seats on the judicial bench and in the legisla¬ 
tive chambers, and filling posts in the local magis¬ 
tracies/’ 

This was but one side of the picture. The 
other side showed that the so-called blessings of 
civilization were ruinous to the Hawaiians. From 
a handsome, vigorous, independent people, they 
became diseased, enfeebled, and indolent. 

In 1832, there was a native population of 130,- 
313 out of a total population of 150,000. Twenty 
years later this had dropped to 84,165, thirty 
years later still to 40,014, and in 1900, there were 
but 29,799. To-day, not more than 15,000 pure 
Hawaiians remain out of a total population of 
250,000, or only six per cent. The Japanese form 
more than half the population, and own half the 
property of the islands. Most of the rest is in 
the hands of Americans. 

By the Eeciprocity Treaty, signed in 1876, 
Hawaii became a commercial part of the United 
States. The islands sprang into sudden wealth. 


3 i6 with the U. S. DIPLOMATS 

Buildings shot up, railroads were built, artesian 
wells dug, irrigation works pushed, great planta¬ 
tions of sugar-cane and pineapples established, 
schools and churches multiplied. 

The treaty enriched Hawaii, but ruined the Ha- 
waiians. The Kanakas did not want money, they 
did not like work. They had been satisfied and 
content, before. They could not understand why 
they should strive and strain to obtain something 
which could not possibly make them any happier 
than they had been in the old times. 

‘‘Why,’’ said they, “should we labor for money 
to buy uncomfortable American clothes, when a 
loin-cloth of tapa costs nothing and is much more 
convenient; why should we slave for wage where¬ 
with to purchase American tinned foods, when we 
prefer fish and poi?” 

The planters, eager for quick profits, despaired 
of forcing the Polynesians to become hard-driven 
field laborers—those who tried the work, died— 
and imported Portuguese, Chinese and, Japanese 
labor. Hawaii, indeed, became civilized, but the 
Hawaiians became almost extinct. 

The Keciprocity Treaty was renewed in 1884 
Avith an additional clause granting Pearl Harbor, 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 317 

on the island of Oahu, near Honolulu, as an 
American naval base. Great Britain protested, 
but the Hawaiian government, backed up by the 
United States, ignored the protest. 

Prom that time on, America more and more 
definitely showed her control over Hawaii. In 
1886, the American Secretary of State forbade 
the island government to raise a loan in London 
on the security of the customs revenues. In 1887, 
the alliance with Samoa was forbidden. 

Finally, in 1890, Congress invited Hawaii to 
take part in the International American Confer¬ 
ence, together with all the Central and South 
American states. By this action, the islands 
were recognized as part of the American body 
of states, and the Monroe Doctrine—which 
excludes European acquisition of territory in 
the Americas—^was applied to their political 
status. 

As the question of the Chinese and Japanese 
populations of Hawaii became a subject for dis¬ 
cussion in one of the committees of this Confer¬ 
ence, Duncan was called upon for a report. He 
had been engaged both upon the Hawaiian prob¬ 
lem and the question of Chinese immigration. 




3 i8 with the U. S. DIPLOMATS 

His report attracted wide attention, and when 
the Hawaiian representatives to the Conference 
returned to Honolulu, Duncan accompanied them, 
in order to study the question at first hand. 

King Kalakaua died in 1891 in San Francisco, 
and his body was taken home in an American 
naval vessel. His sister. Queen Liliuokalani, as 
soon as she took the throne, made a definite stand 
in favor of the old Hawaiian customs, declaring 
that the ways of life introduced by foreigners 
were destroying her people. 

The English espoused the Queen ^s cause, but 
the Americans declared that the government es¬ 
tablished by Liliuokalani was corrupt, and that 
the court was licentious. This assertion was per¬ 
fectly true, but the Queen’s ministers retorted 
that the Americans had ‘‘no divine right to teach 
the world how to behave.” 

During the year 1892, the Queen passed from 
one autocratic measure to another, and the dis¬ 
content grew tense. Badgered constantly by for¬ 
eign interference, the national le^slature became 
more and more resentful. White men were dis¬ 
missed in order that their places might be taken 
by Hawaiians. The “good old times” seemed 
to be coming back again. 




HER MAJESTY QUEEN LILIUOKALANI 











THE WINNING OF HAWAII 319 

Duncan, who had remained in Honolulu to study 
conditions in the islands, sent frequent reports to 
the Department of State. These came to the ears 
of Liliuokalani, and the Queen, learning that the 
American, when a young fellow, had been looked 
upon with favor by her brother. King Kalakaua, 
sent for him and gave him an audience. 

A good many years had passed since the Ha¬ 
waiian king had asked the American youth to act 
as his envoy in the Samoan affair. He was now 
twenty-five years old and trained to diplomatic 
caution. 

In the Hawaiian turmoil, he had kept strictly 
aloof. He was not an admirer of the Queen, but 
neither did he approve the lawlessness of the for¬ 
eign element. When he found himself in the 
presence of Liliuokalani, he spoke with perfect 
frankness. 

Owing to the travels of King Kalakaua the Ha¬ 
waiian court was a shadowy replica of courts he 
had seen in Europe and Asia. Liliuokalani loved 
show and barbaric splendor, even more than her 
brother, and sought to dazzle beholders in her 
royal robes of the feathers of the mamo-hird, and 
the royal 0-0 bird headdress. Duncan was not 
impressed. 



320 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

After interminable preliminaries, the young 
American was asked to give liis opinion. 

‘^Hear, 0 Queen!’’ he began. ‘‘There are two 
kinds of greatness: barbaric greatness, such as 
your great ancestor, Kamehameha I, possessed 
so marvellously; and civilized greatness, such as 
your royal self possesses. They cannot be com¬ 
bined. Your reign, 0 Queen, must go back to 
great barbarism, or go on to greater civilization.” 

The Queen, a heavily-built, hot-tempered 
woman, with, it is said, a touch of negro blood in 
her veins, tapped her foot on the floor impa¬ 
tiently. 

“Get to the meat of the cocoanut!” she com¬ 
manded imperiously. 

“From the wide knowledge and the high edu¬ 
cation of your royal person,” Duncan continued 
smoothly, “it is sure that Hawaii will advance 
during your reign to greater and higher things. 
But civilization, like all other changes, bring dif¬ 
ficulties, and a strong hand is needed to quell dis¬ 
order. As many of the disorders in your king¬ 
dom have been due to foreigners, it might seem to 
your royal self the part of wisdom to walk hand- 
in-hand with a strong foreign Power, so that evil- 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 321 

doers might be afraid, and yet the Kingdom might 
be more firmly established.’’ 

Said Liliuokalani, bluntly: 

‘‘You mean that I should become a protectorate 
of the United States?” 

“I shall always be happy to transmit your royal 
wishes to the officials and President of my coun¬ 
try.” 

“We will consider it!” replied the queen loft¬ 
ily and turned to other Council matters. 

The next day, however, she sent for him in priv¬ 
ate audience, and Duncan talked frankly. He 
told the Queen that her recklessness would prob¬ 
ably cost her the crown, and urged her to permit 
him to send to Washington an official statement 
that she would agree to a protectorate. To this 
the Queen agreed, but added such conditions that 
it was clear that the state Department could 
never even consider the proposal. 

Even before Duncan’s report had reached 
Washington, the crisis came. In January 1893, 
the Queen announced her intention to revise the 
Constitution, and did not hide the fact that she 
planned to limit still further the rights of for¬ 
eigners. 


322 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

The foreign population of Honolulu, led by the 
Americans, held a mass meeting, appointed a 
Committee of Public Safety, organized a military 
force and prepared to organize a revolution. 
Duncan spoke at this meeting, protesting against 
any irregular violence, but he was howled down. 
The American Minister asked the commander of 
a U. S. warship which was in the harbor to send 
marines ashore ‘Ho protect American interests,^’ 
and, within a few hours, a detachment of troops 
were landed. 

The very next day, the revolutionists assem¬ 
bled under arms, proclaimed the overthrow of 
the monarchy, deposed the Queen, and the Com¬ 
mittee of Public Safety (which had no other au¬ 
thority than mob law) took possession of the gov¬ 
ernment. 

The Queen issued a decree declaring that the 
landing of American troops had enabled the suc¬ 
cess of the revolution, and rendered it impossible 
for her to defend herself by force of arms. She 
appealed to the President of the United States to 
disavow this “rebellious act’’ of the American 
Minister and to restore her to her throne. 

The Committee of Public Safety at once or¬ 
ganized a Provisional Government and appointed 


THE WINNING OF HAWAII 323 

Judge Sanford Ballard Dole, son of one of the 
early missionaries, as President. Dole instantly 
sent a commission to Washington to try to nego¬ 
tiate a treaty of annexation to the American 
Union. 

President Harrison, in the last days of his 
administration approved the signing of a treaty 
annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United 
States, but the Senate adjourned before taking 
action, so that the treaty failed to come into ef¬ 
fect. 

Immediately upon taking office, President 
Cleveland withdrew the treaty from the Senate, 
and sent J. H. Blount as a Commissioner to in¬ 
vestigate conditions in Hawaii, the Secretary of 
State advising him to consult with Duncan. At 
tlie close of his inquiry, Blount reported that the 
Provisional Grovernment fairly represented the 
moneyed interests of the islands and the foreign 
element, but that it did not represent the Ha¬ 
waiian people in any way. He added as his opin¬ 
ion that the Queen had been deposed by reason 
of the support given to the revolutionists by the 
United States Minister and the American troops. 

President Cleveland, after many months of con¬ 
ferences, came to the conclusion that Liliuokalani 


324 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

had been unjustly dethroned, and sent a demand 
to the Provisional President, requiring him to re¬ 
store the Queen to power. Dole replied with a 
statement that Hawaii was still independent, and 
that his government ‘‘respectfully and unhesitat¬ 
ingly declines to entertain the proposition of the 
President of the United States that it should sur¬ 
render its authority to the ex-queen.’^ This de¬ 
fiance passed unrebuked. 

Six months later, despairing of immediate an¬ 
nexation, the Provisional Government organized 
itself as the Republic of Hawaii, with Dole still 
at its head. 

Queen Liliuokalani thereupon raised her stand¬ 
ard, and tried to conquer back her throne. After 
a brief campaign, her troops were defeated, and 
she was captured and tried on the charge of ‘ ‘ trea¬ 
son to the Republic.’’ On condition of a formal 
renunciation of all claim to the throne, and on 
taking the oath of allegiance to the Republic, Dole 
granted her a pardon. Thus came to an end 
the native monarchy of Hawaii. 

In 1897 a new Treaty of Reciprocity was signed, 
similar to preceding treaties, but with clauses 
which definitely looked forward to annexation. 

Japan immediately lodged a protest, and sent 



THE WINNING OF HAWAII 325 

a man-of-war to Honolulu. The Mikado’s Gov¬ 
ernment claimed that the United States them¬ 
selves had declared that Hawaii’s independence 
was essential to all powers having interests in 
the Pacific, and asked why this policy had been 
abandoned. The Imperial Protest added that 
annexation would endanger the rights of Japan¬ 
ese subjects in Hawaii, and might postpone the 
settlement of Japanese claims. 

The United States, however, could no longer 
postpone annexation. As Duncan had repeat¬ 
edly reported and warned, a new danger was aris¬ 
ing within the Kepublic. The Japanese were in 
a great majority in the islands. If Japan should 
pass a law permitting Japanese subjects to be¬ 
come Hawaiian citizens—and such a law had al¬ 
ready been discussed in the Imperial Diet—then 
they could swamp the electorate, elect a Japanese 
legislature for Hawaii, and vote for the annexa¬ 
tion of Hawaii by Japan. Nor would the United 
States, in that case, have a word to say, for the 
action would be taken in a strictly constitutional 
way. Duncan urged immediate annexation as 
the only means of escape. And still Congress 
dallied. 

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American 


326 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

War, in April, 1898, however, the military value 
of Hawaii assumed the proportions of necessity. 
As a war measure, the islands were formally an¬ 
nexed in July of that year, being organized as a 
Territory of the United States, two years later, 
with Dole as the first Governor. 

Thus, eighty years after the arrival of the mis¬ 
sionaries, the Paradise of the Pacific fell into 
American hands, bringing to the United States a 
population of over 250,000, of which 140,000 are 
Japanese, and only 15,000 are Hawaiians. As 
the birth-rate among the Japanese is far higher 
than with any other race in the islands, close 
students of conditions in the Pacific doubt 
whether the problem of Hawaii is finally settled. 



Igorot Outside his House. 

From ^‘‘The, Spell of the Thnvaiian Islands and the Philippines,” 
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CHAPTER IX 


THE BOXER REBELLION 

When the Spanish-American War broke out 
and Hawaii was annexed to the United States, 
Duncan pulled every wire he knew in the hope of 
being sent to the Philippines. But the acquisi¬ 
tion of those islands was an inherent part of the 
Treaty of Paris signed in 1898 and ratified in 
1899, whereby Spain ceded to the United States 
the islands of Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philip¬ 
pines Archipelago, and relinquished her sov¬ 
ereignty over Cuba. There was no diplomatic 
investigation of the Philippines and hence no 
need for Duncan’s services. The government of 
the new possessions was a naval and military 
matter, and therefore it did not fall within the 
province of the State Department, 

Unlike Samoa, the United States had sustained 
no relations with the Philippine Islands prior to 
the Spanish War. Even then, the Battle of Ma¬ 
nila Bay was fought solely with the object of de- 

327 


328 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

stroying a hostile Spanish fleet and without the 
remotest idea of seizing the islands. Admiral 
Dewey remained in Manila Bay only because that 
was the sole safe harbor for his own fleet, and ex¬ 
ercised a form of naval government there only 
because a Reign of Terror menaced the whole 
archipelago. Even the Peace Protocol provided 
for the occupation of the city and harbor of Ma¬ 
nila, merely as a temporary measure. 

From earliest times, all the relations sustained 
by the Philippines with Europe were through 
Spain. When the great Portuguese navigator, 
Magellan, touched on these islands, his vessels 
bore several Spanish friars. These missionaries 
immediately started their ^vork of spreading 
Christianity. Within a week the chief of Cebu 
and many of his followers were baptized. The 
chief promptly demanded the aid of his new allies 
in a war against a neighboring tribe, and Magel¬ 
lan, feeling that his honor was involved, agreed. 
But the Cebuans were defeated, and just as Ma¬ 
gellan was stepping into a boat, he was speared, 
dragged back to shore and hacked to pieces. 

Drake and Dampier, both Englishmen, called 
at these islands but the first settlement and occu¬ 
pation was made by Legaspi, mayor of the City 



THE BOXER REBELLION 329 

of Mexico, who was sent by the Viceroy of New 
Spain to found a Spanish colony on the Philip¬ 
pines. ^^You are aware,’’ he was instructed, 
‘Hhat the chief thing sought after by Plis Majesty 
is the increase of our holy Catholic faith, and the 
salvation of the souls of those infidels.” 

The Spanish did their work amazingly well. 
Almost without bloodshed, they took over whole 
provinces, in every case the friars accompanying 
the troops and establishing peace, justice, and re¬ 
ligious instruction, wherever they went. For 
over a hundred years peace and progress went 
hand in hand, and pagan head-hunters, Moham¬ 
medan Malays, Confucian Chinese and Catholic 
converts of all tribes lived in comparative amnity. 

Once, indeed, in the seventeenth century, the 
safety of the islands was threatened. The great 
Chinese pirate Koxinga, who had planned to 
seize the Philippines and to make it the basis of 
a great empire, died just as he was about to sail 
with an enormous fleet, having first ensured the 
support of a strong party in the islands. 

In the Eighteenth Century the British seized 
Manila, but their occupation lasted only two 
years, and by the treaty of 1764 the islands were 
returned to Spain. It was not until a century 


330 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

later, when Spain herself had been wrecked by 
nearly a century of anarchy (due to the Carlists), 
that rebellion showed its ugly head in the Philip¬ 
pines. 

While this was not a matter that concerned 
America, at the time, it had a great effect later, 
and a word of explanation is necessary. The 
Roman Catholic clergy are divided into two great 
groups: the secular clergy, subordinate to their 
bishops and archbishops; and the regular clergy, 
monks and friars, subordinate to the Provincials 
of their Order. The Jesuits, though classed as 
regular clergy, form a group to themselves. In 
the Philippines, most of the secular priests were 
natives, all the regular clergy were Spaniards. 
This caused constant friction. 

In 1767, the King of Spain expelled the Jesuits 
from all his possessions, their property was 
seized, their schools closed and they were treated 
as enemies of the state. As the Jesuits were the 
wealthiest and most influential of the clergy in 
the Philippines, their expulsion caused great 
trouble. The richest parishes in the provinces 
of Cavite and Manila had been under Jesuit con¬ 
trol and when these became vacant, the Arch¬ 
bishop of Manila filled the places with native 


THE BOXER REBELLION 331 

priests. In 1852, this decree was withdrawn and 
the Jesuits returned. The question arose in¬ 
stantly as to who should rightfully occupy the old 
parishes. 

Spain, desiring peace, advised that neither of 
the contending parties should gain the prize, but 
that the Recollet friars should take the Manila 
parishes and turn over their missions on the 
island of Mindanao to the Jesuits. This meant 
a big increase in the power of the friars and 
the Archbishop protested. The Governor-General 
and Council decided against him. 

The immediate etfect of this decision was to 
lower the status of the native priests, placing 
them in the position of not being competent to 
administer native parishes. From that moment, 
they became leaders of rebellion and violent 
propagandists against the friars. Their organ¬ 
ized hate led to the Tagalog uprising of 1872, 
which was put down with swift severity, the 
friars aiding the Spanish soldiers. This re¬ 
ligious question formed one of the most difficult 
problems to be faced when came the days of 
American occupation. 

During the next twenty years, a political change 
came over the islands. The Spanish Government 


332 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

had adopted many modern reforms, and a strong 
Progressive Party—mainly composed of mestizos 
or half-breeds—was organized in the Philippines 
to force the adoption of these advanced measures. 

Now, under Spanish rule, the Philippines had 
never been held by military compulsion. The 
Spanish Army, there, was always small. Moral 
force had maintained Catholic Filipinos, Moslem 
Moros, and pagan Negritos in peace for three 
hundred years, and the friars were the real rulers. 
They now declared, frankly, that the Philippines 
were not ready for modern reforms and prevented 
every effort to establish them. The mestizos— 
especially the Chinese half-breeds—came to real¬ 
ize that a revolution which would break the power 
of the friars might be used as the basis of a 
mestizo government, and could be made to pay. 

In 1896, Andres Bonifacio, and Emilio Aguin- 
aldo—both of them half-Chinese—^launched an 
insurrection under the' name of Jose Rizal as 
leader. After a year’s stem fighting, the insur¬ 
rection was put down. Rizal was executed, Boni¬ 
facio was condemned to death and disappeared, 
Aguinaldo hid in the mountains and became a 
guerrilla leader, later to prove a sore thorn in 
the side of the Americans. 


THE BOXER REBELLION 333 

It is important to remark that this insurrection 
was not put down by Spanish soldiers, but by na¬ 
tive troops who were loyal to Spain. The insur¬ 
rection, indeed, was not a War of Independence 
at all, for it was not until after RizaPs death that 
Aguinaldo adopted the name of a Republic for 
the type of Malay despotism he favored. 

In December, 1897, although nearly all the 
fighting was at an end, Spain offered an amnesty 
and a sum of money to the insurgent leaders if 
they would lay down their arms. Aguinaldo 
promptly surrendered, and, in January 1898, 
three months before the outbreak of the Spanish- 
American War, the Philippines were at peace. 

It is highly incorrect to say that the United 
States took over the islands because Spain had 
shown herself incompetent to govern them. On 
the contrary, for three hundred years Spain had 
maintained peace in a group of islands possessing 
several different races and torn by warring re¬ 
ligions, and she had Christianized half a million 
people. The Filipino is the only Asiatic race 
which is mainly‘Christian. 

Then came the Spanish-American War, forced 
upon the United States by the barbarities of Spain 
in Cuba. This entailed immediate action against 


334 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

the Spanish fleet in the Pacific. The Battle of 
Manila Bay, by which Spain lost the Philippines, 
lasted but seven hours. At davui. May 1, 1898, 
Admiral Dewey, with the American Asiatic squa¬ 
dron, opened fire on the Spanish fleet, which num¬ 
bered one more ship but was fair inferior in gun¬ 
powder. At noon the Spaniards surrendered, 
having lost ten ships and 381 men, the American 
casualties being only seven wounded. Shortly 
after, the city was taken by the United States 
troops. 

When the Filipinos learned that Dewey’s vic¬ 
tory was not to give them independence, but that 
they had passed under the rule of another power, 
insurrection broke out anew, and, this time, it was 
truly a War for Independence. Thanks, partly, 
to encouragement and help from anti-imperial¬ 
ists in the United States, the fighting raged for 
four years and cost America the lives of more 
than 16,000 officers and men. More than a hun¬ 
dred thousand natives were killed, the ill-clothed, 
unfed, ammunitionless bands maintaining them¬ 
selves heroically against an army of 70,000 dis¬ 
ciplined troops, equipped with all devices for 
modern warfare. 


THE BOXER REBELLION 335 

More than twenty-five years have passed since 
that time and the Philippine Islands are still sub¬ 
ject to the United States. There is less disease, 
there are better roads, there are more schools, 
there is increased commerce, and, in the towns, 
there is a higher standard of living. But Fili¬ 
pino independence is yet far otf. The World 
War revealed to the United States the value of 
her island possessions in the Pacific, and the dan¬ 
ger of leaving them open to be the prey of some 
European or Asiatic Power. 

It was just at the time when Aguinaldo had be¬ 
gun his War of Independence against the United 
States that Duncan received a letter which lifted 
him into the seventh heaven of delight. It was an 
official note from the Secretary of State, bidding 
him report at Pekin and making him Second 
Secretary to the American Legation. 

This was a big step upwards, for, though Dun¬ 
can had been elevated to the post of Assistant 
Counsellor to the Provisional Territorial Council 

of Hawaii, after annexation and before final or- 

¥ 

ganization, a legation appointment was greatly 
preferable. It carried prestige and led to pro¬ 
motion. Since Duncan, nearly thirty years 


336 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

old, was well-to-do in his own right, and, upon his 
father’s death, would be wealthy, even the post of 
an Ambassador was not beyond hoping. 

Under the present diplomatic system, an Am¬ 
bassador from the United States receives only 
the same salary as a Minister. This renders it 
impossible for any one except an exceedingly 
wealthy man to accept the post of an Ambassador, 
for enormous expenditures are necessary prop¬ 
erly to support the dignity of that rank in for¬ 
eign capitals. This is not a democratic state of 
affairs, nor is it in keeping with the American 
principle of equal opportunities for all,” but, 
ever since 1893, when the rank of Ambassador 
was created, this anomalous situation has existed. 

Duncan’s appointment to Pekin was due to an 
appeal from the American Minister there for ad¬ 
ditional aid, specifying that, if possible, there 
might be sent him some one who could speak Chi¬ 
nese and who was not missionary-trained. Such 
qualifications were rare, for few Americans, save 
those who plan to be missionaries, undertake the 
study of Chinese, perhaps the most difficult lan¬ 
guage in the world. To the Secretary of State, 
Duncan seemed to be ideally equipped for the 
post. 


THE BOXER REBELLION 337 

The annexation of Hawaii had greatly ad¬ 
vanced Dorrocks’ wealth. Long before, when 
they had first gone to live in Hawaii, the old 
opium-smuggler had invested a large part of 
Jenkins’ money in pineapple land. The moment 
that annexation was definitely accomplished, 
American capitalists interested in the canning in¬ 
dustry swooped down upon Hawaii. 

As it chanced, one of the largest of the new 
plants was erected near Dorrocks’ property, and 
the canners offered him a handsome price for his 
land. Twice he had refused it, hut when he 
learned of Duncan’s appointment the lure of 
China was to strong to be resisted. He sold all 
his Hawaiian interests outright, in order to see 
the Celestial Empire once again. Thus it hap¬ 
pened that it was with his father—now over sev¬ 
enty years old—that Duncan returned to the land 
of his birth. 

His coming had been announced, together with 
a brief statement of his diplomatic qualifica¬ 
tions, so that, on his arrival at the Legation, 
he was warmly welcomed and instantly made 
to feel that his services would be of poignant 
value. 

‘^What do you know about the I Eo Tuanf^^ 


338 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

was the American Minister’s leading question to 
his new assistant. 

^^The ‘Men of the Sacred Fist’? Not very 
much, in recent years, I’m afraid, Mr. Conger. 
Father, who knew China very thoroughly forty 
years ago, was telling me about the order, on our 
way over from Hawaii. But that’s out-of-date 
information, now.” 

“Tell me what you know. Perhaps an under¬ 
standing of its history may help us to realize the 
present situation better.” 

“Very well, Mr. Conger. As I understand it,” 
Duncan said thoughtfully, “the 7 Ho Tuan^ or 
‘Boxers’ as foreigners call it, is a secret society 
which had its origin in the Province of Shantung 
at least two centuries ago, and which has grad¬ 
ually spread all over China. Its membership is 
well up to a million, mainly among the mandarins 
and the lettered classes. 

“According to what my father said, the 7 Ho 
Tuan practises a high-grade magic. It claims to 
possess the key to the famous pre-Confucian Tri¬ 
grams, from which it announces oracles. It 
preaches a form of Taoistic mysticism which 
makes ft into a religious ‘mystery’ something 
like the old Mysteries of the Ancient Greeks. It 



Edwin Hurd Conger. 
Minister to China during Boxer Uprising 

















Tsu Hsi, THE Dowager Empress of China 



THE BOXER REBELLION 339 

maintains a sick benefit and life insurance plan, 
which was in existence centuries before our mod¬ 
ern systems were thought of. It is strongly anti- 
foreign, and rabidly hostile to opium. Though 
loyal to the Manchu dynasty, it is opposed to the 
Chinese Civil Service Examination system, claim- 
that there should be a more rigid caste method 
in the appointment of higher officials. My father 
told me that in his time the 1 Ho Tuan was the 
strongest of all the secret societies of China, of 
which, as you know, there are scores.’’ 

The American Minister nodded his head in sat¬ 
isfaction. Evidently the new Second Secretary 
of the Legation knew what he was talking about. 

‘‘Do you suppose you could find out the scope 
of its present activities?” 

‘‘I’ll try,” Duncan answered, “but I should 
say success was doubtful. A Chinese Secret So¬ 
ciety is about the most secret thing on earth. 
Just what do you want to know?” 

“Everything I can. What I’m most anxious 
about is the likelihood of another anti-foreign 
riot, like the Tien-Tsin affair of 1870.” 

“I was nearly killed in that outbreak, when I 
was just a baby,” commented Duncan, and, in a 
few words, he told the story of his escape from 


340 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

Ning-po, with Lor rocks and Father Marsotte. 

‘Tn coming here, you’ve got some groundwork 
to go on,” the Minister commented thoughtfully, 
when his companion had finished, ‘^but a good 
many things have happened in those thirty years. 
I suppose you have more or less kept up with 
Chinese affairs?” 

^Tn a general way, only. I’ve spent most of 
my time on Samoa and Hawaii. Why do you 
especially fear an outbreak now, if I may ask?” 

‘‘Oh, it’s bound to come soon, and I don’t want 
to be caught unawares. I’ll tell you just why I’m 
a bit on edge, now. 

“As I see it, all anti-foreign attacks in China 
must take one of three directions, because there 
are only three groups of foreigners to awaken 
hostility: the missionaries, the traders, and pub¬ 
lic officials like ourselves. 

“Now, missionary work in the interior of China 
didn’t begin until after the treaties of 1858, yet 
there are nearly five thousand missionaries in the 
field now, with, perhaps, half a million nominal 
converts. If these chaps were looking after their 
religion, only, we wouldn’t have so much trouble, 
but they insist on getting mixed up with such 
purely Chinese customs as foot-binding, and 


THE BOXER REBELLION 341 

child-marriage, and even poke their fingers into 
economic questions like sanitation and the work¬ 
ing of women in the fields. I don’t find the Chi¬ 
nese hostile to Christianity, at all—they’re not a 
religious people and care little about creeds— 
but they do get hostile over this missionary inter¬ 
ference in their daily life. This hostility is grow¬ 
ing, and it’s beginning to have a very ugly look. 

‘^The traders give me even more trouble, and 
the opening of the treaty ports has wrecked the 
domestic commerce of the country and thrown 
millions of Chinese out of employment. 

‘‘Take just three things alone: cotton, oil, and 
railroads. American and British cotton fabrics, 
forced upon the Chinese, have swept the country, 
so that Chinese hand-looms are idle and cotton- 
fields are untilled. Kerosene has crippled the 
Chinese industry of vegetable oils. Railroads 
cannot possibly be constructed without disturb¬ 
ing graves, for, as you know, tombs are dotted all 
over the country instead of being gathered into 
cemeteries, and to desecrate a grave is the most 
heinous of all crimes in China. There’s not a 
day passes but some new hardship put upon the 
Chinese from one or other of these sources comes 
to my ears. They won’t be patient for ever! 



342 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

*‘Then, take our own work. Eight after the 
Chinese-Japanese War, all the Powers took ad¬ 
vantage of China’s downfall to grab concessions: 
timber, mining, and transportation; wherever 
some Chinese venture seemed to be making 
money, the Germans, Eussians, French, British, 
or Belgians jumped in and found some reason for 
taking it over. ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ Didn’t we do it, too ? ’ ’ interrupted Duncan. 

Minister Conger shrugged his shoulders. 

‘‘Of course, to a certain extent, we had to. We 
might deplore the fact that China was being cut 
up and we did make a protest to the Powers about 
it, but that was not reason for letting the others 
get everything! After all, the American Lega¬ 
tion is here to subserve the interests of Ameri¬ 
cans. 

“The real point is, that, from the industrial 
point of view, the Chinese see the best opportuni¬ 
ties of their country passing into the hands of 
foreigners; from the commercial point of view, 
their own home trade is swamped. It’s no won¬ 
der that they’re sore. 

“As if that wasn’t enough, there’s the political 
game of grab to be reckoned with. Our skirts 
are pretty clear of that, but we’re alone. The 


THE BOXER REBELLION 343 

worst offenders are Germany, Great Britain, Rus¬ 
sia, and Japan. There ^s not so much bad feel¬ 
ing over the taking of Formosa by Japan, for, 
after all, that was a legitimate fruit of victory. 

‘ ‘ The German seizure of Kiaochau was a differ¬ 
ent matter. As you may remember, following 
the murder of two German Catholic priests by a 
Chinese mob in Shantung, the Germans sent a 
strong fleet to the fort and harbor of Kiaochau, 
stormed and captured it, and demanded a big 
money indemnity, the territory of the peninsula 
and a monopoly of all railroad and mining con¬ 
cessions in Shantung. 

‘‘A couple of months later, not to be outdone 
by Germany, Russia seized Port Arthur and Ta- 
lienwan, with most of the peninsula of Liao-tung, 
planning to connect these cities with the Trans- 
Siberian Railroad by a line passing through Man¬ 
churia. 

‘‘Russia’s new strength being regarded as a 
menace to the Balance of Power in the Pacific, 
Great Britain forced China to cede Wei-hai-wei 
and some territory on the opposite side of the 
strait, so as to keep an eye on Russia. France, 
which had seized Annam and Tonkin some time 
before, took the opportunity of this period of in- 


344 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

ternational grab to enlarge her frontiers there at 
the expense of China. ' ' 

^‘To make things worse, private agreements 
have been made by all the Powers—^you dl have to 
study those pretty closely, Duncan—providing for 
‘spheres of influence.’ It’s a tangled skein of 
diplomatic handling, but, between you and me, I 
consider it thieving on a large scale. I’ve done 
my share of it, of course, because in diplomacy 
the interests of one’s country are paramount, and 
one’s personal ideas'of morals and honesty are 
second. You can only be • honest in diplomacy 
when your rivals agree to be honest, too. As, 
generally, they don’t—' 

A gesture of helplessness told more than words. 
“To touch on but one phase of that story,” the 
Minister continued, “absurd as it may seem, on 
the long coast-line of China, the Empire does not 
possess one single harbor where it can concen¬ 
trate a. navy or undertake measures for its own 
defence without -the consent of the Treaty Pow¬ 
ers. It’s spoliation, pure and simple, and weVe 
denied the victim the right to retaliate. But re¬ 
taliation will come somewhere, sometime. It al¬ 
ways does, and I’m a strong advocate of keeping 
on the right side of China. 


THE BOXER REBELLION 345 

‘^Generally it takes some local issue to start se¬ 
rious trouble going. ^Behold how great a matter 
a little fire kindleth. ^ Last year (1898) the Yel¬ 
low River overflowed, causing a death-roll of 
twenty thousand and rendering a hundred thou¬ 
sand homeless.—Famine and disease followed. 
Well, there were revolts, of course, headed by the 
'Boxers. 

^‘Here, at the Legation, we had to have marines 
on guard day and night. If it hadn’t been for 
them, we’d have been murdered, sure. When 
things quieted down a bit, the marines were with¬ 
drawn. That was only a few months ago. Now, 
there’s a new famine broken out in the Province 
of Kwang-su, and there are renewed reports of 
Boxer activity there. It’s certain, to my mind, 
that we’ll have trouble next winter. 

‘^Then, as you know, the young emperor has 
been practically dethroned. He was pro-foreign 
and it was he who ordered that Chang Chih 
Tung’s book on Chinese reforms should be dis¬ 
tributed broadcast throughout the empire. Now 
the old Empress Dowager, who is a hidebound 
reactionary, is running things, with Li Hung 
Chang at the head of affairs, all the pro-foreign 
officials about the court having been either be- 


346 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

headed or banished. She is a strong supporter 
of the I Ho Tuan and, under her patronage, that 
secret order is taking in hundreds of members 
daily. 

‘ ‘ That’s the situation, in a nutshell, and I think 
you’ll agree with me that it’s serious.” 

‘‘Unless the Powers hold together, it’s deadly, 
I should say,” Duncan replied, “but, if they do, 
China can’t do much. She has no navy, the 
army has gone to pieces since the Japanese War, 
and she’s divided against herself. The united 
action of the Powers is the only solution, I should 
say. ’ ’ 

“We’ve already done all that is necessary for 
that. Secretary of State Hay has succeeded in 
getting the consent of all the important nations of 
the world to the Open Door policy in China, 
coupled to a condition of no acquisition of terri¬ 
tory. But I’m afraid of the Boxers. A power¬ 
ful secret society is the most difficult thing to 
fight I know of. See what you can find out about 
its plans.’ ” 

Minister Conger’s fears were more than justi¬ 
fied by after-events. With the winter came fam¬ 
ine, a worse famine than had been expected, and 
the anti-foreign feeling smouldered redder and 


THE BOXER REBELLION 347 

redder. Early in 1900 no less than three bloody 
outbreaks were started by the Boxers, and though 
they were put down by the local officials, no one 
was punished for the murders. 

In May, the foreign ministers addressed the 
Tsung ll Yamen, or Chinese Board of Foreign 
Affairs, asking for the suppression of the 1 Ho 
Tuan, but, a week later, a concerted attack on the 
railway stations was made, for all railroads in 
China were foreign-owned. 

Instantly marines were sent to the legation 
from Tien-Tsin. It was none too soon. The rail¬ 
way between that city and Pekin was seized on 
June 4, 1900, and, for several weeks, all tele¬ 
graphic communication ceased. 

Matters moved fast. From Pekin the news 
leaked out of the assassination of Baron von Ket- 
teler, the German Minister, and of the siege of 
all the legations by thousands of blood-hungry 
Chinese. 

A naval column was hastily gathered at Tien¬ 
tsin and sent over the country at forced march to 
the relief of the legations, but the column was re¬ 
pulsed with heavy losses. Then followed the dis¬ 
patch of a division of the army from the Philip¬ 
pines, composed of all arms of the service, an act 


348 WITH THE U. S. DIPLOMATS 

unique in United States history, for it was done 
without sanction of Congress. On its arrival, it 
found an Allied Army gathered, and this great 
force marched to Pekin, stormed the capital and 
rescued the besieged legations and foreign colony, 
almost at the last minute. Then followed the 
occupation of Pekin and the bloody days of 
reprisals. 

Through those thrilling times, Duncan played a 
most important part, and risked his life a score 
of times. It was he who saved the White Tower 
from fire, he who found out that the wells were 
being poisoned. He made history, indeed, but 
no longer as a boy. 

His life in Pekin during the negotiations, his 
part in the Manchurian War, his efforts in China 
to pacify the immigration hostility, his promi¬ 
nent part in the Civil War of 1911 when the 
Manchu Dynasty was forced to abdicate, his work 
with the new Republic of China, (recognition of 
which he disapproved), his constant efforts to 
maintain peace between the northern and south¬ 
ern groups of states when the Republic split in 
two, his appointment as High Commissioner to 
Japan to regulate the question of Kiaochau after 
the close of the World War, his determined ef- 


THE BOXER REBELLION 349 

forts to hew down the foul weeds of Bolshevism 
springing up in China, his extraordinary success 
in running to earth the foreign leaders of the web 
of brigandage which rose to its heights in 1923, 
form a tale of wild and thrilling interest, but do 
not belong to the story of his boyhood. 

The day came at last when the United States 
called him back from China for urgent diplomatic 
work in other lands. The week before sailing, 
he made the journey to Ning-po, the city of his 
birthplace. 

There, Duncan laid the Chinese offering of a 
son on his mother’s tomb, and a wreath on his 
father’s grave, and bade them both farewell. 
And thus he spoke, half aloud, and half to him¬ 
self : 

^Ht is true, there is much work for us to do 
here. Yet, in the century that has elapsed since 
first Father’s vessel touched at the treaty port of 
Canton, not once has American diplomacy in 
China been sullied by a selfish or an unkind ac¬ 
tion. He told me, once, that there is no Yellow 
Peril. That is sure. There is none, where there 
is no white injustice!” 


THE END 


J 


U. S. SERVICE SERIES 

By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER 
Slustrati >ns froxTii photographs taken In work for U- S. Govtmmeii^ 
Large I2mo Cloth $1.75 each, net 

••Ttiere are no better books for boys than Francis Rolt-Wheeler*s 
* U. S. Service Series.* ”— Chicago Record-Herald, 

- —— - I - 

THE BOY WITH THE U. S. SURVEY 

'T'HIS story describes the thrilling advent- 
* uies of members of the U. S. Geological 
Survey, graphically woven into a stirring 
narrative that both pleases and instructs. The 
author enjoys an intimate acquaintance with 
the chiefs of the various bureaus in Washing* 
ton, and is able to obtain at first hand tl^ 
material for his books. 

’•There is abundant charm and vigor in the 
narrative which is sure to please the boy readers 
and will do much toward stimulating thexr patriot, 
ism by making them alive to the needs of conser. 
vation of the vast resources of their country,”— 
Chicago News, 


THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FORESTERS 

T he life of a typical boy is followed in all its adventurous detail—the 
mighty representative of our country’s government, though young in 
years—a youthful monarch in a vast domain of forest. Replete with 
information, alive with adventure, and inciting patriotism at every step, 
this handsome book is one to be instantly appreciated. 

** It Is a fascinating romance of real life In onr country, and willprove a great 
pleasure and inspiration to the boys who read it.”— The Continent^ Chicago, 

THE BOY WITH THE U. S. CENSUS 

T hrough the experiences of a bright American bcv. the author shows 
how the necessary infoi mation is gathered. The securing of this of¬ 
ten involves hardship and peril, requiring journeys by dog-teana in the 
frozen North and by launch in the alligator-filled Everglades of Florida, 
while the enumerator whose work lies among the dangerous criminal 
classes of the greater cities must take his life in his own hands. 

Every yonng man should read this story from cover to cover, thereby getting 
A clear conception of conditions as they exist to.day, for such knowledge will have 
• clean, invigorating and healthy influence on the young growing and thinking 
itAxid.'*-—Boston Globe, 


For by mil booksellera or sent postpaid oa rteolpt of 
price by the pabilshere 

lOTHROP. LEE & SHEPARD CO.. BOSTCE 




















U. S. SERVICE SERIES 

By FRANCIS ROLT>WHEELER 

Mtnj lUustrfttions from photographs taken In work for U.S. Ouvemmeot 
Large 12mo Cloth Net $1.75 per volume 
*• There are no better books for boys than Francis Rolt*Wheeler’s * U. S. 
Service Series.’ ”—Chicago Record^Herald, 


THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FISHERIES 


W ITH a bright, active American youth as 
a hero, is told the story of the Fisheries, 
which in their actual importance dwarf every 
other human industry. The book does not 
lack thrilling scenes. The far Aleutian Islands 
have witnessed more desperate sea-fighting 
than has occurred elsewhere since the days o? 
the Spanish buccaneers, and pirate craft, which 
the U. S. Fisheries must watch, rifle in hand, 
are prowling in the Behring Sea to-day. The 
fish-farms of the United States are as inter¬ 
esting as they are immense in their scope. 

** One of the best books for boys of all ages, so 
attractively written and illustrated as to fascinate 
the reader into staying up until all hours to finish 
Philadelphia Despatch, 

THE BOY WITH THE U, 5. INDIANS 


THEBOYiWITHTHE 
U.S. FISHERIES 





FRANOS ROU-WHEELER 


“^HIS book tells all about the Indian as he 
* really was and is; the Menominee in his 
birch-bark canoe; the Iroquois in his wigwam in 
the forest; the .sioux of the plains upon his war- 
pony; the Apache, cruel and unyielding as his 
arid desert; the Pueblo Indians, with remains of 
ancient Spanish civilisation lurking in the fast¬ 
nesses of their massed communal dwellings; the 
Tlingit of the Pacific Coast, with his totem-poles. 
With a typical bright American youth as a central 
figure, a good idea of a great field of national 
activity is given, and made thrilling in its human 
side by the her oism demanded by the little-known 
adventures of those who do the work ot Uncle 
Sam.” 



** Aii exceedingly interesting Indian *1017. because it is truct and not mereW 
a draniatio and picturesque incident of Indian life.*’— N. Y, Times, 

It tells the Indian’s story in a way that will fascinate the youngster.*** 
Rochester Herald. 


Por MMle dymll booktellers or seat postpaid oa receipt 
ot price by the pubiishere 

lOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 



































U. S. SERVICE SERIES 

By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER 

Many illustrations from photographs taken in work for U. S. Government 

Large 12mo Cloth Net, $1.75 each 

“ There are no better books for boys than Francis Rolt-Wheeler’s *U. S. 
Service Series .’”—Chicago Record-Her aid. 


THE BOY WITH THE U. S. EXPLORERS 


T he hero saves the farm In Kansas, which his father is not able to 
keep up, through a visit to Washington which results in making the 
place a kind of temporary experiment station. Wonderful facts of plant 
and animal life are brought out, and the boy wins a trip around the world 
with his friend, the agent. This involves many adventures, while 
exploring the Chinese country for the Bureau of Agriculture. 

“ Boys will be delighted with this story, which is one that inspires the readers 
with the ideals of industry, thrift and uprightness of conduct.”— Argus-Leader^ 
Portland^ Me. 

THE BOY WITH THE U. S. LIFE SAVERS 



T he billows surge and thunder through 
this book, heroism and the gallant facing 
of peril are wrought into its very fabric, and 
the Coast Guard has endorsed its accuracy. 
The stories of the rescue of the engineer 
trapped on a burning ship, and the pluck of 
the men who built the Smith’s Point Light¬ 
house are told so vividly that it is hard to 
keep from cheering aloud. 

‘•This is an ideal book for boys because it is 
natural, inspiring, and of unfailing interest from 
cover to cover ,”—Marine Journal, 

THE BOY WITH 

THE U. S. MAIL 


H OW much do you know of the working of the vast and wonderful 
Post Office Department? The officials of this department have, as 
in the case of all other Departments covered in this series, extended their 
courtesy to Dr. Rolt-Wheeler to enable him to tell us about one of the 
most interesting forms of Uncle Sam’s care for us. , 

“Stamp collecting, carrier pigeons, aeroplanes, detectives, hold-ups, tales of 
the Overland trail and tne Pony Express, Indians, Buffalo Bill — what boy would 
not be delighted with a oook in which all these fascinating things are to be found?” 
— Universalist header. 


Por sale by all booksellers or seat postpaid on receipt 
of price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


























MUSEUM BOOKS 

By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER 

Illustrated from photographs, many of which are furnished 
by the American Museum of Natural History 
Large 12mo Cloth Decorated cover Price, $1.75 each 


THE MONSTER-HUNTERS 


T his is a story of thrilling adventure, and through its 
pages writhe or thunder those vast and uncanny mon¬ 
sters that inhabited this world long ago. 

While exploring in the Sahara desert for skeletons of 
primitive whales the boy hero is the victim of an engulfing 
sandstorm, and adventures crowd in upon him in our own 
wild Wyoming waste. The youthful paleontologist unlocks 
the gate to a new world, yet never ceases to be a boy. 

" The author entertaini bis readers with thrilling adventure, at the same 
time creating a desire to follow up the subject — a gift most story-tellers 
lack. Some book! ” — Philadelphia Ditpatch. 


THE POLAR HUNTERS 

T he “ Frozen North” always fas¬ 
cinates as a subject, and in 
no other book has so haunting a pic¬ 
ture been drawn of Eskimo life. Strange 
fights with walrus and polar-bear on 
the sea, ice perils from drifting floes 
and crashing bergs, and the constant 
fight against hunger, cold and dark¬ 
ness, give this book a glamor as great 
as is its wealth of information. 

"The book is an ideal one for boy readers, 
filled as it is with valuable Information, and of 
imfailing interest from beginning to end." — 
Zion'a Herald^ Boston. 



THE AZTEC-HUNTERS 

T he true romance of a vast and powerful American civiliza¬ 
tion, which flourished more than a thousand years before 
Columbus landed, is here told, absolutely for the first time. 
Forty cities, as large as those of modem times, have been 
snatched from the jaguar-haunted jungle to tell the story of 
a great commercial empire, comparable to those of Egypt, 
Greece, and Rome. 

*• Not only will boyp be held spellbound by this absorbing tal«, but adulta 
will also find this well-written narrative intensely interesting and full of the 
latest light shed by science upon u subject of perennial interest ."—New 
York Herald. 


Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston, Mass. 


















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